The original was also flagged, so I don't think this is the answer.
You can comment and reply on the original article, so what’s the distinction other than a text label?
flagged dead posts don't get seen. so commenting on them is just shouting into the void. both are now flagged dead. someone is purposefully killing discussion of this article.
Flagged and flagged dead are two different things: flagged dead doesn’t mean “strenuously flagged”. If the post is dead, no one can comment on it.