Why Elton John Purchased 9/11’s Most Controversial Photograph

"The Falling Man" is the most controversial photograph to have emerged from the September 11, 2001 attack on New York City's World Trade Center.

Taken by Richard Drew of the Associated Press - and visible at this link - the photo shows a man falling headfirst along the side of the soon-to-be-demolished 110-floor North Tower, momentarily captured in an incongruously serene pose that belies the utter surrounding chaos and his imminent demise.

When the photo ran in the New York Times and other papers across the country the following day, many readers complained and accused the publications of exploiting the unknown man's death.

Read More: How Classic Rock Responded to the 9/11 Terror Attacks

Many photographs were taken of the estimated 200 or more people who died after jumping or falling from the inescapable flame and smoke-filled upper floors of the Twin Towers during the attack.

However, after the angry response to the publication of "The Falling Man," newspapers stopped sharing these images.

"Photographs of the so-called jumpers have been rendered taboo," noted Susie Linfield of New York magazine, "vilified as an insult to the dead and an unbearably brutal shock to the living."

Elton John saw things differently. He spent two years working to acquire a print of
"The Falling Man" for his collection of famous photographs, which numbered nearly 8,000 as of 2016.

“It’s the most beautiful image of something so tragic,” John told CBS News at that time. “It’s probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken. It’s not a shot that a lot of people probably would want to hang on their wall. And we’ve never hung it on our wall.”

During the interview, John was clear that he had no reservations about collecting photographs of such tragic moments.

“No, because this is an historical event. It’s as important as the naked girl running down the road [in] Vietnam [1972's "The Napalm Girl"], and I have that. The little boy in Syria recently, just sitting there on the chair? I desperately want that photograph. And we’re trying to get it. It’s just important to have them.”

Who Was the Falling Man?

After a 2001 story in the Globe and Mail suggested that the falling man might be Noberto Hernandez, a pastry chef at the Windows on the World restaurant on the 106th floor of the North Tower, Esquire journalist Tom Junod was able to obtain several other photographs of the moment from Drew.

In a story originally published in 2003, the falling man's darker complexion and orange t-shirt led Junod to counter - but not definitively determine - that the falling man might instead be Jonathan Briley, a sound engineer employed at the same restaurant and the brother of the Village People's original "G.I.," Alex Briley.

In his own 2021 Associated Press article, "The Falling Man" photographer Drew downplayed the importance of a specific identification.

"Though his quest proved fruitless, Junod eventually concluded, as I did, that the point was moot. For we already knew the identity of the man in the picture. He was you and me."