Suruthi Bala

Onwards and upwards.

It was a rough year in a lot of ways, particularly for celebrity deaths.

Over the course of those 12 months, we lost such legends as David Bowie, Prince, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, Harper Lee and Sir Terry Wogan.

Big hitters.

But the death that occupied the world's media attention, perhaps more than any of those, was no film star.

He was no musician.

Not even a sportsman or a writer.

He'd never even been invited to the Met Gala.

Ugh.

What a loser.

In fact, before his passing on the 28th of May 2016, only a handful of people knew his name.

He was a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla called Harambe.

And on that day, in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Biological Gardens, he was shot by a keeper after a three-year-old boy fell through the guardrail.

The incident caused outrage across the world.

Also, it doesn't need to be followed by the quality of what he is.

You know, like Coco the Gorilla.

He just is.

Just Harambe.

I refuse.

This was actually raised in a content planning meeting last year and I was like, no, no, let's wait for 10.