Tag Archive for Celebrity

Why Miley Cyrus can’t just grow up

June 22, 2010 Entertainment One comment

Typically when a singer releases a new album, they generate a whole bunch of headlines. For Miley Cyrus, the headlines have barely been about her upcoming album, Can’t Be Tamed.

First there was that whole Miley kissed a girl thing (no word on whether she liked it) while performing on Britain’s Got Talent (does anyone else wonder why a talent show has guest performers?).

Then there was the video for the Can’t be Tamed single — pole dancing, writhing backup dancers, etc., etc.

Then there was the whole Perez Hilton thing from last week, where the blogger posted a photo of Miley getting out of a car in a short dress, apparently without any underwear on (remind you of anyone?). Hilton later recanted, posting a photo that showed Miley was wearing some kind of underwear.

Miley brushes off all the criticism, telling Reuters:

I’m just at a certain place where I’ve changed a lot as a person. I’ve grown up a lot, which everyone does.

Yes, Miley, everyone does grow up. But few have to do it in the spotlight, trying to navigate the murky waters from adorable child star to well-adjusted adult. Miley Cyrus faces a bit more of a struggle in her quest, though.

Why is Miley Cyrus seemingly under more scrutiny than the child stars before her? All you have to do is listen to her speak, and you see she’s still more of a girl, less of a woman.

Here’s Miley on David Letterman this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTtpOX7hbcg

Contrast that with Britney Spears at the same age:

Or Christina Aguleria just a few years older:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t403rPqkHIE

Basically, it all comes down to semantics. Britney and Christina were allowed to grow up and become sexual beings much easier than Miley is because Britney and Christina always presented themselves as adults — or at least older than their years. (Yes, Britney got a lot of press about whether she was being sexualized too young, but she was the first, so the press is to be expected).

Miley, however, still talks like the teenager she is — she talks super fast, with lots of “uhs” and “likes” sandwiched inbetween. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. After all, she is a 17-year-old girl, she should be allowed to talk like one.

It’s not her southern accent either, Britney was from the south, too and still managed to come across as polished and presentable. Miley on the other hand, sounds bored in her interviews, not at all polished or presentable at times (just look at her reaction to the smoking baby clip with Letterman, she squeals: “That’s not real!” That’s not very grown up).

If Miley really wants to grow up and shed her Hannah Montana image, then she needs to truly grow up and get a new image — and that doesn’t mean she just needs to be more sexualized. Miley needs to present herself like the adult she wants to be in every way: In interviews, online (especially her blog), at awards shows (the MMVAs anyone?) and in her music.

Until she does, she will still be everyone’s little girl.

And every adult step she tries to take will be criticized.

CTV talks to “Bombshell” McGee, world must stop and listen

May 31, 2010 Entertainment No comments

Sunday afternoon, CTV sent out an interesting press release.

According to them, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee (AKA one of the women who Jesse James had an affair with) is in Toronto filming an ad for Ashley Madison (you know, the online dating site for people who want to cheat on their spouses) so they sat down and talked with her.

Press releases are supposed to be exciting so that people will read them and cover whatever the event is, but there are a couple parts that really stood out as a little over the top.

First:

Reporter Lainey Lui spoke with the world’s most-hated woman yesterday in Toronto, where McGee was shooting commercials as the new actress for the pro-adultery website AshleyMadison.com.

Is Bombshell McGee really the most hated woman in the world right now? Really? There’s no one else at the top of anyone’s list? Maybe this should get a pass since it’s not like the said she’s the most hated woman in the history of the world. But still, why should I hate this woman? I don’t even know this woman. She didn’t break up my marriage, so why would I have any beefs with her?

Secondly:

Lainey, ETALK’s resident gossip maven, goes head-to-head with a placid McGee over her skewed definition of racism, James’ past abuse, and why McGee believes she did Sandra Bullock a favour.

Lainey goes head-to-head? Is she fighting McGee? Because that’s what I think of when I hear head-to-head. Challenges may have been a better word choice here.

The release then goes on to excerpt quotes from the two-part interview. An interview that there is little point to now. This “news” is months old and not really much of a “get” since McGee is in Canada filming a commercial. It would be like sitting down with Brad Pitt now and being like, “So you left Jennifer Aniston five years ago, eh?”

The American tabloids are not even all that interested in Bombshell McGee anymore — that’s how old this story is. That also makes it crystal clear why McGee did this interview: To keep her face out there and her 15 minutes of fame ticking.

It’s a little sad then when a Canadian TV show plays into exactly what someone named Bombshell wants.

Conan speaks — the world stops to listen

May 2, 2010 Entertainment No comments

Sunday night marked the first night Conan O’Brien was able to speak his mind (sort of) on television about what went down between him, Jay Leno, NBC and The Tonight Show.

The interview, on CBS’ 60 Minutes, showed a much different O’Brien than we saw a few months back as he sang Free Bird with Will Ferrell, bidding farewell to his version of the classic late night gabfest. Looking slightly older than I remembered him, and with a shorter version of his writer’s strike beard from 2007, O’Brien really had very little to lose.

Still guarded by a non-disparagement agreement with NBC, O’Brien had to be somewhat guarded with what he said (perhaps that is why Conan began some remarks with, “I don’t know if I can answer that” or “Here’s what I can say”).

O’Brien said that Leno has not reached out to him since the dispute, and that neither has NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker (who O’Brien went to university with). O’Brien’s wife was interviewed, and she said she would have supported whatever decision he made.

And while O’Brien gave some zingers, he also came across as very heartfelt:

That’s right. You know at some point I’m sure I’m  going to bump into these people.  And, you know, I’m not sure we’re  going to be– have our arms around each other and drinking beer and singing old Irish fight songs. ‘Cause I don’t think they know any.  But, you know, I wish, this is  going to sound crazy,  I do wish these people well.

What to make of O’Brien’s first sitdown? It’s hard to say.

Really, the verdict on what the motivation was behind this will come down to whether you were a Team Coco member or a Team Leno member back when all of this was going on in January and February.

If you’ve always supported O’Brien, no doubt this will cement in your mind that he was wronged and he was the one who got screwed in all of this. And you’re also going to be thankful he’s finally got to say his peace — since NBC didn’t sign Leno to a muzzle pact.

But on the flip side, if you’ve always supported Leno, you’ll say this is just O’Brien pushing buttons and trying to manipulate viewers and the media all over again. After all, O’Brien walked away with millions of dollars and will be getting a new talk show in the fall. How is that losing?

Whatever the motivation, it was nice to finally get O’Brien’s side to the whole thing (well, as much as he can say, anyway). And that’s really all it is — O’Brien’s side. It’s hard to say there’s anything wrong with a little bit of fair comment (I mean Oprah gave Leno an entire hour right after O’Brien went away).

One interesting thing that has been so under-reported because of the O’Brien interview is a tidbit David Letterman gave to Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa last week on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Remember that Super Bowl commercial with Leno, Letterman and Oprah?

Yeah, the part played by Oprah was supposed to be played by O’Brien.

For some reason, he declined the offer. That speaks more than anything O’Brien said in his 60 Minutes interview.

Bristol Palin strikes again

April 7, 2010 News commentary No comments

Once again, Bristol Palin is using her teen mom status to garner more attention on the fact that she is, in fact, a teen mom (for a little bit longer, anyways):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtcm9R-J3Bk

“What if I didn’t come from a famous family?” Bristol starts the video.

Perhaps the real question that should be asked here is, “What if my mom hadn’t run for vice-president?” After all, had Sarah Palin not been John McCain’s running mate in 2008, no one outside of the great state of Alaska would have known who Sarah Palin was, let alone Bristol.

It’s not the first time that the eldest Palin daughter has spoken out about her accidental pregnancy either. She’s becoming a teen Super Mom lately, warning kids that teen pregnancy is not all fun and games (she’s even guested on the The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a show about teen pregnancy). Next thing you’ll know she’ll be pointing her disapproving finger at the real teens on 16 & Pregnant.

Is Bristol speaking out about the challenges of teenage parenthood a good thing? Perhaps. But I don’t think many American kids get pregnant because they think it’s going to be easy.

In fact, most teen pregnancies likely come from the kids who, like Bristol, are taught abstinence-only education. Meaning they are not taught about birth control (condoms, pills, shots, patches, etc.). Instead they are taught to just say no — don’t have sex. Not til marriage. The end.

Well that’s great, but studies (and Bristol) have proven that these abstinence-only programs do not work. Kids taught to simply not have sex are at a higher risk for pregnancy and STDs because they don’t know any better when they do have sex before marriage.

And who’s a great pusher of that program? Sarah Palin.

And that is where this ad ultimately fails. Sure, the kicker line is “Pause before you play,” which one could take to mean to use protection (it’s the 2010 version of “No glove, no love”), but Bristol never makes that part clear.

Instead the ad makes it seem that if she didn’t come from money and good social status, she could not have had her child.

There’s no doubt that money has played a big role in Bristol’s opportunities since having her child at 18: She was able to graduate high school, she’s attending college and she’s still living at home, where there are plenty of built-in baby-sitters. But that really isn’t something you should be saying to kids.

On that token then, it must also have been OK for Jamie Lyn Spears to get pregnant at 16, since she too had the money.

The other troubling thing about this ad? The more Bristol campaigns about teen pregnancy and her “struggle,” the more I wonder what baby Tripp is going to think of his mother’s actions when he’s old enough to understand.

A lot of the undercurrent here is that if she could do it over again, she wouldn’t. Not that she wouldn’t have the baby (abortion is another no-no), but that she wouldn’t have put herself in the position to create a child. Tripp never would have existed, if his mother had her way.

And that’s a message no one should have to hear a mother say.

The ugly side of reality TV

April 1, 2010 Entertainment No comments

I was dismayed to learn that Kate Gosselin (do I really have to qualify who she is) would be on this season’s Dancing with the Stars — I was even more disgusted when I saw her “dance” for the first time.

It’s not Gosselin’s first attempt at reality TV (exhibit A), but nothing about this woman comes across as real to me.

Last fall we were all forced to pick sides in the Jon vs. Kate debacle. But really, it was Kate who’s side we had to be on because she got all the press. She was on People magazine every week lamenting about what happened to the Jon she knew and how sad she was and how she was left to raise these eight kids all by herself.

So instead of closing up her reality show and getting a real job, as a real mother would do, she did DWTS.

Fine. Whatever.

Then this week, Kate showed her true colours as far as I’m concerned, and her professional partner nearly quit on her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azWhSqCI-zg

I mean, really can we say what a nag? Seriously. This man teaches dance for a living. He doesn’t make much money from DWTS (if anything, the professional dancers are left unable to compete in the ballroom circuit because they are so busy with the show). And if Kate was really upset by Tony storming out, the human thing would have been to run after him. Not to sit and stare at the camera AND CONTINUE TO TALK TO IT!!

It was bad enough Kate survived elimination (she should have gone home. To be a mother. To her kids). But it’s just gotten worse.

E! Online is reporting the two are planning a “Jon and Kate inspired” dance routine for this week. I wish I was kidding.

Why ABC and DWTS allowed this woman on their show is really beyond me. I know reality TV is not “quality” programming, but there is nothing enticing about Kate Gosselin: she’s not even that good of a reality villain (here are some better ones).

Instead, Kate comes across as the woman she says she’s not: someone in her 30s who desperately wants to be famous and is willing to do so at all costs. She’s already lost her marriage, and she’s basically sold her kids to being filmed everyday of their lives, so what else is there to lose? Not much.

Kate claims she took this job because she needs the money. After all, she’s a single mom to eight kids and can’t count on her ex to contribute. And if she were to go back to nursing (what she was before she was Jon and Kate Plus Eight), then she would be spending just as little time with her kids as she is now.

That’s a load of bull.

Kate reminds me a lot of the girl I was in high school: desperately wanting to be a part of the in crowd. But the fact is, she’s not and she never will be (partly because we can feel the desperation so bad we want nothing to do with it).

Someone has to draw the line with Kate Gosselin, because otherwise God knows what will happen to her children.

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