Even celebrities cannot escape the dangerous foot-in-mouth disease.
Once in a while, we hear the unfortunate news of a celebrity losing their integrity to the vicious foot-in-mouth disease.
No matter how intelligent, gorgeous and rich celebrities may be, they simply cannot help but occasionally fall prey to this unforgiving malady.
Last week, it was Johnny Depp.
* The latest victim *
The usually quiet and pensive actor came under fire for an insensitive remark he made during an interview with Vanity Fair, in which he compared having his picture taken, especially during photoshoots, with being raped.
“Well, you just feel like you’re being raped somehow. Raped … It feels like a kind of weird – just weird.”
It is definitely a terrible way to describe a photoshoot, no matter how invasive Johnny may find them to be, and he soon realised his grave error.
Well, either he figured that out on his own account or the immediate uproar from the public drove the message home.
Many were none too happy that the talented actor compared something as trivial as a photoshoot with rape – a traumatic ordeal that has affected many lives around the world.
The actor was quick to issue an official apology stating, “I am truly sorry for offending anyone in any way. I never meant to. It was a poor choice of words on my part in an effort to explain a feeling.”
It was a poor choice indeed.
If only Johnny took a second or two to rethink his choice of words, he would’ve realised that verbs such as “defiled” or “violated” would have worked well in his statement. But unfortunately, he didn’t.
Just like actress Kristen Stewart who, while promoting Twilight: Eclipse, compared the attack of paparazzi cameras with sexual assault. “I feel like I’m looking at someone being raped,” she told British Elle. “A lot of the time I can’t handle it.”
* Think before you speak, Kristen...*
No, seriously. She actually said that.
While the world is sorry that Kristen is subjected to crazy paparazzi attention everywhere she goes, it doesn’t mean that they would take any crap that comes out of her potty mouth.
Kristen soon apologised for her stupid statement which she described as, “an enormous mistake.” She admitted to not thinking her remark through before saying it out loud.
You see, that’s the problem most celebrities have these days; they do not think before they speak. They just say whatever comes to their mind and expect everyone to accept them.
Too bad Johnny and Kirsten, that’s not how things work anymore.
In this day and age, political correctness is crucial if a celebrity wants to sustain their livelihood and if you think that the public is forgiving, think again.
Gone are the days when someone famous could say something insensitive and get away with it.
Country singer Hank Williams Jr learned that lesson the hard way.
* It's monday night blues for you now brother...*
Last week, ESPN pulled his iconic song All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight from the opening of the Monday Night Football show, after the singer compared US President Barack Obama to anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hilter.
Dude, seriously?
The singer spoke on the show Fox & Friends, comparing a golf game between Obama and politician John Boehner to an outing featuring Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Needless to say, that video went viral.
In that same interview, Hank also compared Obama and US vice president Joe Biden to the Three Stooges. OMG, how crazy is this fella?
Public ire is not something a celebrity should want and one famous American “shock jock” found himself jobless after garnering just that.
A few years ago, shock jock Don Imus was sacked from his popular radio show after he described a mostly-black women’s college basketball team as “nappy-headed h**” during a live segment.
And no, he reportedly wasn’t on any drugs when he said that – he was just plain crazy, apparently.
* People no likey Don Imus *
That controversial statement didn’t sit well with most Americans who demanded the radio get DJ fired from his show, and its parent company, CBS, had no choice but to let go of Don – one of their most prominent DJs at the time.
Another disgraced radio DJ is Russell Brand (or Mr Katy Perry) who had to resign from his radio show after a prank he pulled with his co-host went awry.
Russell and Jonathan Ross were due to interview actor Andrew Sachs on the telephone but when the latter did not pick up their call, they decided to leave a few nasty messages on his answering machine.
* Stop running that mouth Russ *
The duo spoke of sexual acts involving Andrew’s grand daughter (who Russell claimed to have had an affair with before), and they were downright rude.
The inappropriate messages incensed the public who didn’t wait long to voice their unhappiness – Jonathan was suspended and Russell felt “guilty” and resigned from the show.
The actor later said that when he listens back to the damaging messages, it was like hearing “two idiots dancing towards a canyon.”
No kidding, Russell.
Sharm says: I’ve been infected with this disease many, many times. Just like that one time I told my editor … erm, never mind.
