The reaction to my reaction of Bert Newton’s Speech
So this week I made a short YouTube video talking about the hoopla that occurred after Bert Newton’s Logies speech.
We all know Bert is old as dirt, and the Logie’s love to trot him out every year, which is fine. Bert is Bert, and we all know that.
But while Bert has kept the same jokes year after year, living in his little bubble, society around him has changed. Some of his dad jokes aren’t considered PC anymore, and social media lit up after his speech.
I found it interesting that more people were offended by him calling himself a “poof” than they were about his suggestion that his peers were “mentoring” behind locked doors. Looking around, it didn’t seem like any gay people were offended by him calling himself a poof, it was all the other SJWs who were offended on their behalf.
I had no beef with his calling himself a poof. Maybe he identifies as gay, or bi-sexual. Whatever.
I was more interested in people’s reaction to his comments about the “mentoring” which could be seen as inappropriate, on two levels.
Firstly, because you’re insinuating that your co-worker may have been dabbling in some sexual activities in the work place. Whether people think it’s consensual or not, when someone who is in a position of power offers to mentor someone, sexual activity is frowned upon. There’s a power balance there. Some people may have been mega fans and wanted to engage in sexual behavior, others might feel compelled to engage in sex acts. If we haven’t learned anything from Weinstein about power imbalances, then at least look to the military and see how they have policies about fraternization.
The second issue is making a suggestion like that about somebody who isn’t alive anymore to defend themselves. Maybe Kennedy would find it funny, maybe he wouldn’t.
But after my video went up, Peter Ford posted a part of it on The Morning Show and the Daily Edition. They only played a very small snippet, the part where I state that I am in no way whatsoever implying that Bert, Graham or Done Lane have ever done anything wrong in the past, but that I didn’t think it was a funny joke, and I didn’t think the reactions on social media were great. There was lots of people taking a stab at anyone who had said something negative about Bert’s speech, telling them to lighten up, get over it, or that they had no sense of humor.
It was then hilarious when I woke up and I had a bunch of people who had found my FaceBook page who decided to comment that I should leave Bert alone, mind my own business, and one peculiar comment, that my pink hat offended them….
So basically these people proved my point that they hate anyone who tries to stand up for victims of abuse, and worse, they can’t even have polite discussions or make a comment without going straight for a “fuck you” with no logical thoughts.
I always laugh when these people scream that they’re entitled to their opinions, while simultaneously telling me I’m not entitled to one.
So here’s the thing. I love discussion. I love debating. I love to hear other people’s opinions and stories, and exchanging ideas. It’s how we learn. I think the world would be an incredibly boring place if we all had the same opinion on everything.
But, if you want to comment, at least make an informed comment. Try actually watching the video before you run your mouth, or start screaming profanities. Otherwise, you just come off as an uneducated idiot, and nobody is going to take anything you say seriously.
So it’s been announced that Iggy Azalea is going to be a judge on the next season of X-Factor in Australia. Which, if you follow my rantings on here, you know I’m thrilled about it.
I think it’s awesome that a talent show in Australia will actually have an Australian as a judge. It’s a shame that’s she’s taking the spot that Dannii Minogue is vacating, instead of having two female Australian judges, but at least they’re replacing Minogue with another Australian female.
I think Iggy will be amazing. She ticks all the boxes that a TV show in Australia wants. Young, pretty, and they have to fly her in from overseas…. As an Aussie living in the US, it’s great seeing another Aussie doing so well over here, and I admire her hard work, and the effort she put into really making a name over here for herself, especially in a genre most people wouldn’t think of a white, female, Australian, doing well in at all. My patriotic pride beams everytime I see her.
I hate that talent shows in Australia always hire foreigners. It’s ok to have the token one or two, but all the shows follow the same format of having the foreigners outnumbering the Aussie’s. Which is kinda silly, since they’re judging Australian talent. Maybe they think Australia doesn’t have enough international superstars, or even Australian stars, or maybe no-one else wants to do it. But I’m glad Iggy signed on. She truly is an international star, and she went from knowing what she wanted in Oz to moving to the US and making her dream a reality. Hopefully she can inspire and help others do the same.
So good on the X Factor for scoring Iggy Azalea. I hope the Australian audience is kind to her, and realizes how cool it is that she’s going to be going home to work on the show.
Getting justice can be a long slow road, that sometimes feels like it’s never going to end. For many people, it never does. Their cases are stalled, their investigations halt, and people feel helpless.
Even in my case, people had been to the police before, and nothing had happened. It wasn’t till Woman’s Day and A Current Affair spoke of my story, that justice was eventually found. It wasn’t easy going public, but eventually it led to a court case, Robert was found guilty, and there was a glimmer of hope that if I could take down such a high profile pedophile, maybe others could do the same with their perpetrators.
So it’s logical for others to also contact the media hoping they will be able to do the same for them. I think if you’re strong enough to go through it publicly, and do whatever you need to do to take your perp down, then go for it. There’s a few things you need to know before you contact the media though. I’ve had several people message me, very disappointed by the response they got, or lack of a response from the media. I want people to have the right expectations, so they’re not let down again.
I’m not going to insult anyone by saying my case was no different. We all know that being a former actress, people were going to be more interested in my case. I wasn’t so sure when I first signed up for Woman’s Day, but it soon became obvious I was delusional thinking I was just a has been nobody was interested in. Hindsight, of course my story was going to be a big one. But being famous isn’t going to be the difference between me and you getting your story on TV. The biggest hurdle when it comes to media is that they need at least three people to back up a story before they can air it. Without three people corroborating a story, it leaves a network open to defamation and lawsuits, something a media outlet won’t risk. There are ethical standards they must meet, and even I had to sign a bunch of legal paperwork before any of my stuff was aired. Other people backed up my story, and we could proceed. There was a lot of nervousness, because it wasn’t just Robert we were going against. His partner, Robyn, was highly regarded in the industry, and an attack on Robert was also an attack on Robyn. Point is, when you go to the media, make sure you have at least two other people who are willing to back up your story. If you have any photographic evidence, written evidence, anything at all, make sure you let them know. They are powerless to help you without it. Unfortunately, they need as much evidence as the police do…
So I’m not saying don’t go to the media. I think the media is there for all of us to use, not just former child actors like me. But just go in with realistic expectations, so that you’re not disappointed if they can’t help you.
Make sure you’re prepared for what can happen if your story does get aired. Every pedophile with internet access will attack you. All the social media trolls will attack you. You can never make it go away. Once it’s out there, it’s out. You might find it helps to bring forward other victims and witnesses, but it can also go against you if there ever is an actual court case resulting from it. Still not saying don’t do it, but I want you to be prepared for all the possibilities. – I wasn’t.
Late edit: It’s really hard for the media to deal with minors, or even people who are now adults, but were minors when the abuse occurred. It’s illegal to name a child victim, even as a parent. Remember how my name was all over the place, and then it disappeared? Once Robert was charged, I was officially a victim, and they had to suppress my name. There’s all kinds of legal minefields when it comes to kids. Each and every case is different, and it will depend on whether the reporter thinks they can do your story justice with what you have available. No reporter wants to make your case more difficult, which can happen if not done right.
I’m so excited. I just got back from my European Vacation, and now I’m planning my trip to LA to attend the A Minor Consideration First Ever Guiding Star Gala.
AMC is very near and dear to my heart. These guys were there for me during all my stuff going on, and now, I want to pay it back.
They’re holding a big event on August 30th, at the famed Hollywood Lucky Strike Bowl. A bunch of other Former Child Stars are going to be there, and there will be a silent auction, as well as a whole bunch of memorabilia up on eBay. We’re trying to raise money so we can be more effective when it comes to helping out other former and current child stars. AMC has done to so much already to help change laws and make the industry a safer place for kids, but it’s not cheap to change legislation.
If you can make it out to the big event in LA, please come along, enjoy an evening bowling and socializing with your favourite childhood actors. If you can’t be in LA, keep an eye out for details of the auctions. There’s going to be a bunch of amazing stuff put up. Click on the poster above, and it will take you to the AMC Gala Page where you can buy tickets to the event.
I’ve gotten into heated discussions with people over whether kids working in the entertainment industry is comparable to child labour. The way I see it, if you’re working, you’re considered labour, so any kid working is child labour. Others try to say I’m insulting the child labourers of third world countries, because their PC definition of child labour is restricted to kids working in factories in places like Bangladesh or Honduras. Sure, kids working in third world countries have it rough, but if you think that kids working on TV are all living a life of luxury, and making a huge amount of cash for later in life, you’re sadly mistaken.
Some places like California have laws set up for kids, many places don’t. So while your ten year old can’t go work at a store, or even on the family farm, you can send them off to work on a movie set, where contrary to popular perception, the work is much less than glamorous. Filming can be long, hard, and tedious, and sometimes even dangerous. You might be working outside in snow in winter, or in the heat of summer, with no AC, or even shade. You might end up working with a sex offender, and good luck getting anyone to do anything about that. Animals normally have a handler, and laws to protect them, making sure they get breaks for water, and to rest. Kids in most states do not even have that.
Now, there’s a huge crop of reality shows based around kids. These ones have even less protections. Most reality shows are scripted, and it’s not just cameras following kids around. Jon from Jon & Kate talked about how they would do retakes if the shot wasn’t right, and they might have the kids up at 2am, outside in the snow, trying to film. He got tired of it, and wanted to protect the kids. Kate didn’t care, she was making money, and getting famous. Even better, the kids were exempt from their own contracts in the beginning, so all the money was going to the adults.
I could argue the child labour issue of kids in the media till I’m blue in the face, but it’s probably just easier to let Paul Petersen do it. He’s my personal hero, and he’s been fighting for kids in the industry for years. Paul started A Minor Consideration, and here he is on CBC radio, discussing the laws. It’s about 12 minutes long, but very worth your time.
A Minor Consideration is there for all current and former kids in the industry. If you’re a product of the industry and need help, contact AMC. If you want to help out, you can make a tax deductible donation, or attend our first ever Gala event in August. All money raised goes to helping fight for the rights of the innocents of the industry.
There seems to be a perception that an actor can live off residual cheques forever. It’s a common misperception. Yes, there are a few actors who do live quite well with the added residual income cheques, but there are very few who can live off just that income. Especially if you’re from an older show that had a contract written before new technology.
Another child actor friend of mine had started a discussion today within our group asking about residuals. I always love hearing from my US counterparts, because the laws are set up so differently here. Or at least I thought. Seems a lot of them with older contracts also got screwed out of money. Sometimes they post up pics of the cheques they do get, so we can all have a laugh and commiserate together. Some people get an actual cheque for $0.10 or less. It’s not even worth the paper it was written on.
After seeing the discussion today, it got me thinking about the last time the Hey Dad cast got a cheque. It was before I turned 21, and I bought a watch with it, which I still have. It was a Tag Heuer, and it was on a crazy sale for under $500. I had been eyeing it for months, and when I got that cheque, I cashed it, and got me that watch. I think that cheque was for $800, so I spent the rest on something responsible like rent and groceries.
Our contracts were from the 1970’s. There was no electronic media back then. Nobody knew what a DVD was. Cable wasn’t in Australia yet. They had it written in that we would get a few rounds of residuals from overseas sales, and repeats. A lot of older US contracts were updated to reflect that shows are now run constantly on cable, and are also being put into box sets. Some even reflect digital usage.
Somehow, that never happened in Australia. We thought maybe since it had been shown on Comedy Classics channel on cable, there might be something owed there, but apparently, we were all shit out of luck. Nothing from all the local channels that played it for years either. All the foreign residuals were also out of contract it seemed. I wasn’t even really aware that we had a box DVD set until Gary Reilly sent me an email, asking for a current address, as there may have been money owed to us. My next trip to Australia, I took my brother to the store with me to show him, because he didn’t believe me, and Matt bought a set, so I know they sold at least one DVD set.
Then, I didn’t hear anything for a long time, so I contacted Gary again, making sure things didn’t get lost in the international post. Gary said there had “been an error” and that even though there was now two box sets in Australia, and Germany released four different box sets, we wouldn’t be getting any money. When we got together for that episode of Where Are They Know, we had a discussion at dinner, to see if anybody have ever received anything. None of us had. Worse than that, Chris Truswell got excited because he had money sent to from the union, and then they said there had been an error, and it belonged to someone else. We wondered how it was that even with old contracts, the show could be sold over and over again, and us actors were getting nothing for it. I’m glad to know it’s way more common than just Australian shows getting fucked. (I had heard the cast of Prisoner also kicked up a stink about not getting anything when they were sold off on DVD)
Of course, nobody is going to buy these DVD sets now. (I think I sealed that deal 😉 ) Although there are a couple of sets available on Amazon in the US and the UK. (Do they even know what the show was?) I’m not bitter about it, because it was probably only pennies we would have gotten anyway. It’s just an observation that I made today that actors make a lot less money than people think they do. Shit, I made more in the military per week than I ever did on Hey Dad..! I’m guessing Gary made a pretty penny as the producer though. If I ever go back to the industry, I’m going to be a producer. They’ve got the money and the power.
So next time you see an actor out and about, especially if they’re working a second job, be nice to them. Understand that they probably don’t just blow through all their money on booze and drugs. Some of them just never got that money in the first place to start the party with. Not everyone makes Charlie Sheen money.
Of course, if anyone from the media union in Oz is reading this, I’m sure the rest of the cast would appreciate it if you looked into where their residual money is.
One of the Duggar kids, of 19 Kids and Counting, has been investigated for molesting his sisters.
Someone has uploaded copies of the police report online, with all the names of both the perpetrator and the victims blacked out, but InTouch is claiming that they found out from “a source” that it was Josh who did it, when he was 14. The family was told what he was doing in a letter. Jim Bob, the father, thankfully took it seriously, and questioned the rest of the kids. They felt safe enough to talk about what had happened. Jim Bob also spoke to Josh, who admitted what he had done. So far, even though it’s bad that Josh molested the girls, it’s being handled pretty well.
After that, it gets kinda dodgy. I’m guessing since they were on a very popular TLC show that they had to try to keep it quiet. Nobody wants to know there’s a kiddly fiddler on TV….
So Jim Bob sends Josh to “treatment” which wasn’t really treatment. It was a buddy in another state. But hey, at least he was trying to get the kid away from the girls. He did way more than what a lot of other people do in the same circumstances.
Then they had Josh talk to a State Trooper. This didn’t go so well, since that same Trooper was later arrested himself for child pornography…. He didn’t do anything about Josh at the time. Now, the statute of limitations has run out for the girls to do anything. Having been raised as being nothing more than future baby makers, they’ve “prayed about it and forgiven him”. At least, that’s what they’re saying. I’m betting there’s some not so Christian thoughts in their heads.
I’m not sure whether to be happy that the family at least attempted to do something about it, and that the girls felt like they could tell their dad, or if I’m disappointed that nothing really worthy was done. I guess a bit of both. It’ll be interesting to watch the fallout from this over the next few weeks. Let’s hope Josh really got some help, since he’s now married and has his own kids.
Josh Duggar has resigned as Executive Director of the Family Research Council, acknowledging he sexually molested underage girls including some of his sisters, calling his conduct inexcusable.
Josh just told People, “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager. I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret.” He continues, “We spoke with authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling.”
Well, at least he openly admits to it, and is sorry for what he did. Not saying that makes it any better, but it’s got to be way better on the girls than having him deny it.
Interestingly, this is the second TLC show that has had problems with sexual predators. Honey Boo Boo was cancelled when Momma June hooked up with a convicted sex offender that had molested her own daughter.
Australia doesn’t have a lot of Celebreality shows. There was the three seasons of Celebrity Apprentice, one so far of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and now they’ve announced Celebrity Big Brother, which only had one version way back in 2002. The US and the UK have a massive amount of Celebrity reality shows. I’m not sure if it’s because they have more celebrities to make these shows with, or if audiences are just more receptive in other markets.
Celebrity Apprentice Australia
Anyone who follows me knows how much I love celebreality. Sure, sometimes none of us know who the “celebrity” is, and whether they really qualify to be on a celebrity version of a show, but sometimes, those wild cards end up being the most interesting contender. People complain about these shows not having bigger celebrities, but lets be real, you’re never going to get an A lister, or probably even a B lister to go on one of these shows. Honestly, I think they’re far more interesting with lesser known, or past their prime celebrities. Famous people have a brand to protect. The up and comers, or those who have fallen from grace, don’t give a shit. They’re willing to get down and dirty. They’re going to let their real personality shine. They’re not going to attempt to maintain a persona for weeks on end, trying to make sure they don’t damage their reputation.
I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.
That said, there seems to be a huge difference in how the US and the UK cast these shows, and how their talent acts on them. The Americans always cast big, loud, brash characters, with the intent of putting a group of people together who they know will not get along. The entertainment is supposed to come from everyone yelling and scratching each others eyes out. Most of the US talent know what the network wants, and will immediately throw a diva fit, or start crying, or spend weeks antagonizing each other. Sure, it’s drama, but frankly, it bores the shit out of me. I’m sure it also bores other people, which is why the US versions of shows only last a couple of seasons, or are sporadically programmed.
The UK versions prefer to throw a bunch of people together who will be all nice and polite to begin with, until the close confines start to wear thin. Along with the challenges being set to them, they will start to become unhinged. The slow unravel is much more interesting to watch, and creates more water cooler conversations as you work out who is going to form alliances, and who will lose it next. I also find it refreshing that the UK celebs freely admit they’re going on the show to earn money, and raise their profiles. In other countries people all yabber on about how they’re on there to raise money for charity, or make up some other selfless reason to go on there. Sure, it’s great to raise money for charity, but don’t deny you’re also getting paid a wad of cash, and it’s great personal publicity.
Just like the Aussie version of these shows always have a token foreigner or two, the UK version also has a token US celebrity. Lately though, the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother has been having more and more US cast members, to the point they’re doing an actual UK vs US version. Earlier this year, they had a version with five Americans on there, including Perez Hilton.
Celebrity Big Brother UK. Do you know who all these people are?Seriously, who draws dicks on pictures?
Now, while we all know who Perez Hilton is, I’m not sure a guy who got famous for a blog where he posts pictures of actual celebrities with dicks drawn on their faces really qualifies. Yes, he’s become as famous as the people he writes about, but the guy is an absolute fucktard, and doesn’t need more oxygen. I guess the people in the UK either didn’t get who he was, or they knew exactly who he was, and that’s why they cast him. He was the epitome of the US reality star. He was worse than when Heidi and Spencer Pratt went on IACGMOOH. The whole time he just set out to create drama. He didn’t possess an inside voice, and spent half the time in there screaming about how it was “The Perez Show”, while dancing around in his undies. I didn’t like Perez before he went on there, and I absolutely hate him with a passion now. He was someone who went on TV to raise his profile, and ended up just destroying his brand. I wonder if he watched the show back afterwards and realized what a douchebag he was. Probably not. He’s probably still blaming it all on editing. He seems to thrive on people hating him though, so he probably thinks it was a win for him.
On the other hand, when it was announced Katie Hopkins was on the show, she was met with boos as she walked in. I only knew Katie as the woman who had some very nasty views on people, and thought she would be the queen bitch of the show, and that I would hate her. After the first couple of episodes, I actually started to really like her. Yes, she’s opinionated. Yes, she can be a bitch. Yes, she doesn’t like ginger babies, and yes, she’s a snob. Yet, I found her to be a very genuine person during her time on there, and I loved that she was the one person who took no shit from Perez. Now, when you’re one of the most hated women in Britain, and you look good compared to Perez, that should be a life lesson. I’m not the only one who thought Katie was much better than Perez. I found this online poll. She would have fared better if she had backed off a bit instead of always fighting with him, but c’est la vie. I’m sure everyone else was screaming on the inside.
The fact these two were kept on there after Jeremy Jackson, the former child star best known as Hobie from Baywatch, and then Reg Holdsworth were evicted in the first week for bad behaviour, made many people watching at home ask if the whole show was manipulated. Perez claimed he was getting paid more than anyone else, and at one point also claimed it was in his contract he would make it to at least the final 3 episodes. Perez should have been evicted plenty of times, but because of the massive ratings, it appeared as if Big Brother was giving him immunity to keep him on the show for longer. Yes, at first it made for good ratings, but it pissed off a lot of the audience. Deceptive contacts are not good for shows. (It’s like when David Hasselhoff appeared on the Aussie version of Celebrity Apprentice, and claimed he had to leave for family reasons after the third episode. Then it came out he was only ever going to be in three episodes. Viewers were saying “Not happy Jan”.)
Katie Hopkins ended up making it to the end with Katie Price, who ultimately won the show. Pricey was a late intruder, and missed the initial fights. She was also hopped up on pain meds, and was totally laid back during her time. Some people found her very boring, but I thought it was nice to see someone not screaming. She was very much like late comer Freddie Flintoff who won IACGMOOH in Australia.
While it made for good entertainment initially, it started to get boring very quickly as a viewer, and I certainly can’t imagine how torturous it was for the rest of the poor celebrities living in that house. We as viewers could simply hit mute, or turn the telly off altogether when it got too loud. The rest of the people on the show had to live with it, 24/7. It’s no wonder that people walked out. I’m not sure I could have dealt with it. It’s a good thing they had cameras rolling non stop, or Celebrity Big Brother could have turned in Celebrity Cluedo real quick. Perez certainly loved to tell the producers people were threatening him. Of course, anytime he threatened someone, he was “just talking smack.”
Ideally, the best way to be on these shows is as the host. You get to see all the drama, meet all the celebs, but you get to go home to peace and quiet every night. Best of both worlds. Chris Brown and Julia Morris were fabulous on IACGMOOH, and who doesn’t love Ant & Dec? I’m currently girl crushing on Emma Willis. She has the most perfect pixie cut I’ve ever seen.
It’s got to be tough casting these shows. You’ve got to find the right balance of eye candy, real celebrities, and of course, drama. You’ve got to be careful not to alienate your audience by having total drama queens like Perez, who have turned many people off CBB altogether. I’m guessing after this season’s bullshit, they’ll have a hard time getting people to agree to go on the next season. (or it will be very expensive to get them) They should probably go back to only having a couple of foreigners, not half the cast. Or throw a token Aussie in the middle of the two. I bet there’s a bunch of expat Aussie celebs living in the UK who’d jump at being on there. How many Neighbours and Home & Away people live there now? Surely one of them would do it.
I think that Australia does a pretty good job of casting these shows. While there’s a bunch of couch surfers who whine about there being no “big names” on there, the last few versions of Aussie celebreality shows have been pretty good. Having been out of country for so long, I don’t always know who some of the people are, but I get to know them, and love or hate them because of their time on there. There always seems to be a good mix of old and new talent, and they do a nice job of picking people who will be laid back at the beginning, and let the drama unfold naturally. Sometimes they’re a little too laid back, but it’s certainly better than the constant screaming that the US versions have.
It’s still a few months off, but I can’t wait to see who the Aussie’s pick for both Celebrity Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity. It’s a nice way for this expat to stay in touch with people back home, without trying to watch an actual long term drama. I can binge watch a whole series in a few days. I like hearing the accents, and seeing the interactions. It’s especially cool to watch people you know personally go on these shows. I think it would be awesome if they did an Aussie version of The Surreal Life as well. Of course, I’m still pushing for for any of these show to do an all Former Child Star version. (Of course, you’d be looking at an almost entire US cast there.)
Just remember celebs, if you decide to do one of these shows, don’t do a Perez. It might be ratings gold, but nobody likes an asshole.
So discuss. Who do you want to see on the next versions of these shows? Who would you hate to see on there? Is there another reality show you’d like to see a celebrity version of, or do you hate reality TV altogether?
So Wikipedia has a listing of the Hey Dad..! episodes, but being Wikipedia, it’s not always right…
Flashback to the pilot
The “pilot” episode they have listed was actually the first episode. The pilot was never aired, and the only reference to it is in a flashback episode years later, when they got me all dressed up for a formal.
And yes, they did totally recycle the episode a few years later when Arthur MacArthur needed a rabbit suit in the episode “Wascally White Wabbit”.
So it started in 2014. People thought that there was sexism on the red carpet at awards events, because people asked women about what they were wearing, but didn’t ask men the same questions.
I get that women want to be treated as equals. It must annoy married couples who walk the carpet, or attend junkets, and when they compare questions at the end of the day, she was asked questions about whether or not she wore spanx, and he was asked about what role he wants to take on next. I get it, the women don’t want to be reduced to nothing more than a mannequin.
But I’m also conflicted. These are people who are on a red carpet, attending an awards ceremony. They are people who play make believe for a living. It’s not like they’re at an event celebrating scientists, or nobel laureates, or even a charity event. These are not people who have found a cure for cancer. They’re not celebrating that they’re ending world hunger, or putting in a bunch of water wells in remote areas. It’s a bunch of people who work in the entertainment industry, patting each other on the back over who made the best entertainment. Sure, some of the movies are about good causes. Some help to bring light to important issues. Some winners even used their acceptance speech time to bring light to their causes and campaigns.
The red carpet however, has evolved over the years to become it’s own little event. There are probably millions of people who watch the red carpet festivities, and then switch off the rest of the event. Honestly, I don’t give a shit who wins best actor, or best movie. I do like to see some of the behind the scenes people recognized. There are thousands of people involved in making a motion picture. The actors are just a few of them, and yet, they get all the recognition.
People enjoy the red carpet. Everyone loved watching Joan Rivers on the red carpet, (I can’t believe they left her out of the Memoriam section) and then people spend days discussing who wore what. Fashion Police is always most popular at awards season. When an actor is in a movie, they are told what to wear, what to say. Seeing people on the red carpet you get to see old Hollywood glamour. We see people dress up, and hopefully, a little sense of a persons style. Truthfully though, these days, most people just have their stylists do everything for them. The fashion industry spends months preparing for Red Carpet season. They devote weeks making dresses that these women will wear on the Red Carpet, hoping that will translate to sales down the line. Designers provide gowns, sometimes worth thousands of dollars to these people. It’s not just the women either, plenty of male actors are not only getting free suits, but they’re also being asked on the red carpet “who are you wearing?” George Clooney is always being asked what he’s wearing. Jewellers drip these people in necklaces and bracelets. There are millions of dollars in diamonds at one event alone.
The whole reason that designers are providing these outfits to these actors is because they know they will be asked, “Who are you wearing?” It’s priceless advertising. If we stop asking these people who they are wearing, will designers slowly decide to stop providing stars with outfits and fittings for free? Will we go back to the days when you had to actually shop and pay for your own dress?
People’s Choice Awards dress.Another one of Mum’s creations.
When I went to The Logies, and the People’s Choice Awards while on Hey Dad, nobody was gifting dresses. You had to get your own. One year, I went in a tuxedo, with a brightly colored cumberbun and bow tie. Usually though, my mother made my outfits. Bless her, for all we don’t talk, I do admire her seamstress skills. She made almost all of my clothes growing up, even my school uniforms. She made my high school formal dress. Sure, I look like Princess Diana, but I didn’t look like anyone else there. Plus, Princess Diana was a trendsetter, so it’s OK. However, I doubt that if I were to attend a red carpet these days, that my mum would be willing to make me a dress. Which means I’d either have to go shop on my own, spend days trying to find the right dress, hope nobody else bought the same dress, have it tailored, and then, if I was asked on the Red Carpet who I was wearing, I’d have to decide whether to give free advertising to a company that I had paid to wear, or simply give the “it’s vintage” answer. <- Yes, when someone says It’s vintage it means they bought their own dress. Or, I could hope that I don’t get asked Who I’m Wearing. Hmm, maybe the campaign is for people who got snubbed and weren’t provided a dress. I hadn’t thought of that…
Anyway, I know it’s shallow. I know it makes women feel objectified. I know it’s the new thing to not want to be asked what you’re wearing, or at least ask more than just just. It has been tried before though. Here’s an excerpt from The Hollywood reporter. Ryan Seacrest tried eliminating the “Who are you wearing” question in 2010, and was criticized heavily for it. “Hey Ryan, Talk to the Dress” read a New York Times style column headline that detailed the backlash from fashion bloggers. “It was almost like he wasn’t that interested in the designers,” designer Nicole Miller said. “He seemed more interested in the celebrities and their careers.”
Maybe people are ready now to have more questions on the red carpet than just ones about fashion. Or maybe people should just accept the fact that the Red Carpet IS all about the outfits, and save the deep and meaningful conversation for their actual interviews with talk show hosts and magazines… Or they could get a blog and bitch, I mean, discuss all they want like I do here. The Red Carpet is always optional. If you’re really offended by the current line of questioning, you could boycott it altogether. You could always just avoid people like Giuliana Rancic who you know is going to ask you that question, and stick to the more serious reporters. Or, you could learn to move a conversation in the direction you want. Let them break the ice with a question about your outfit, and then steer the conversation towards your chosen charity, or cause, or attempt at world domination. You’ve only got about 90 seconds though, so try not to get too deep.
She even put the tartan as beading on the sleeves.
Otherwise, I hope your mum is skilled enough to do this type of scalloped neckline.
