Who’s the Victim?

Over the last few years there has been buzz about celebrity’s that have sued magazines, and paparazzi who in turn sued celebrities. A recent New York Times article is a reminder of one of the world’s largest multimedia conglomerates, News of the World, and their phone hacking scandal that reached both sides of the pond, affecting celebrities in Britain as well as the US. But the paparazzi have had their share of unfair treatment as well. So who is really the victim here?

Mike Tyson TKO’ed

A 2010 PopEater article talks about Mike Tyson getting sued by a paparazzi photographer for $25 million. According to the report, an altercation at LAX resulted in the photographer receiving injuries to:

• His face.
• Spine.
• Neck.
• Brain.

The Huffington post points out that Tyson alleged the paparazzi photographer, Antonio Echevarria, “aggressively pursed” him and his family through the airport. However, there were no physical injuries or marks on Tyson, and Tyson had been quoted as threatening to kill Echevarria.

Sean Penn’s Paparazzi Vandalism

TMZ reported about Sean Penn’s “no contest plea” to a 2010 incident in which Penn kicked a photographer, who filed a civil lawsuit alleging a knee injury. It settled a little over a year later with an undisclosed monetary amount and Penn facing:

• 36 Months of probation.
• 300 Hours of mandatory community service.

Celebrities Who Have Been Injured

Part of the reason celebrities fight back isn’t just because their privacy is being assaulted, but often so isn’t their safety. Nicole Richie had to be taken to a hospital after a 2009 car accident that was caused when paparazzi following her rear-ended the car she was in. Brad Pitt was rear-ended by a photographer trying to snap his picture while he was riding a motorcycle. Other celebrities that have runs in with the paparazzi include:

• Madonna getting knocked in the face while carrying her baby.
• Jessica Simpson and her friend got smacked in the face.
• Rihanna knocked by a London photog.

What’s the Law?

Although celebrities are affected wherever they go, California is a definite hot spot for celeb-paparazzi battles. In 2009, celebrity, Governor Schwarzenegger offered legal help to his Hollywood pals by passing an anti-paparazzi law. What does this mean?

• Photos and their earnings may have to be forfeited.
• Fines for cameramen.
• Lawsuits for media outlets that publish illegal photos.

The battle between the famous and those who take their picture will not be going away anytime soon. And with increased injuries, and even deaths the likelihood is that there will be an increase in legislation as well.

Sasha may be classier than she looks, but Drama and Scotty Lavin most certainly are not, launching into a discussion about anal sex that results in Eric confessing he’s never tried it. Scotty claims that Eric needs to do it at least once before he gets married, and Drama agrees (“You kidding? Vagina’s my third favorite hole.”), but when Eric mentions the idea to Sloan, she reminds him that they did try it once… unsuccessfully. That didn’t stop them from trying again, however, but just as Eric suspected, he likes her vagina. It was a rare comedic twist in the relationship that was sorely needed, because up until now, the writers have made Eric’s decision to marry Sloan seem like a bad thing. And if you’ve seen her recently (or heard the actress that plays her talk about all of her awesome qualities in that promo HBO has been airing recently), then you know that it’s not.

Getting back to Vince, while it may have seemed a bit unprofessional to bring Sasha with him to his meeting with Stan Lee and Randall Wallace, I don’t think it should have had anything to do with the fact that she was a porn star. Granted, I can understand their caution about working with young actors who turn out to be the latest fuck-up of the month, but if they hadn’t been so prudish about Sasha’s career, then Vince probably wouldn’t have acted like a giggly little child. The fact that he mixed some of Turtle’s tequila with a Vicodin certainly didn’t help, but I’d be more concerned about him getting addicted to pain meds (or looking like an ass as the face of some tequila) than losing out on a job because he’s dating a porn star. And from the looks of things, Vince is about to go 2-for-2 in that area.

All is still not well in Drama’s camp, either. After freaking out upon hearing that John Stamos still hasn’t called back about the script, Drama nearly has another panic attack when he learns that Bob Saget is trying to steal his role. It certainly doesn’t help that Saget and Stamos are old friends, or that the network actually prefers Saget over Drama, but when Drama learns that the part was never actually written for him as he was led to believe, he seems to just throw in the towel. Hopefully that’s not the end of Drama’s search for a new show, but I have to imagine that if Phil is still fighting for him at the network, then there’s a good chance he’ll get it when all is said and done. Who knows? Maybe Stamos will drop out and Drama will take over his part.

I’ve been right before – as early as last week, when I suggested that if Lizzie was working in cahoots with anyone to get revenge on Ari, it would probably be Amanda Daniels. Granted, it took an entire episode of prodding clients about who was backing Lizzie before Amanda herself called Ari to proclaim war, but this is definitely a nice little twist for the season. Though Ari succeeded in holding on to some of his star clients (including Mike Tyson, Jessica Simpson and Aaron Sorkin) for the time being, he might have to take a more hands-on approach to his agency if he hopes to keep them. I can’t imagine he’ll be able to follow through on Tyson’s idea of a black “Brady Bunch,” but I am curious to see if anything comes of this Sorkin/Simpson business. It’s hard to imagine Simpson doing a dramatic acting role, or someone as well-regarded as Sorkin to actually write it for her, but we’ve certainly seen crazier things on the show.