Publicists put paparazzi in the same category as really nasty lawyers: You hate having them around. Except when you need ‘em.
On June 3, California’s Assembly drastically toughened up the penalties of the existing state law about stalking and surveillance to specifically protect celebrities and threaten the media, particularly the paps. AB2479 was approved with a vote of 41-12 and sent to the state Senate as its next step.
The amendment includes language about “false imprisonment” for the purposes of getting photos, audio or video (whether they’re secured or not), trespass into “personal or familial activity” for such purposes and “physical invasion of privacy…in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person.”
But what if those violations were incurred at a star’s, manager’s or publicist’s behest?
Most people point to the Britney Spears meltdown of 2008 as the height – or depth – of pap/celeb madness. The mentally fragile young woman was pursued to and from gas stations, fast food joints, clubs and the salon where she infamously shaved off her hair. The defining moment was when she drove in and out of the Westside’s winding roads to the Beverly Hills Hotel, with two dozen SUVs in hot pursuit and a chopper overhead offering play-by-play of the action.
These chases put Spears’ security in jeopardy, not to mention the safety of any innocent passer-by or driver who might’ve accidentally happened into the scrum. It made any thinking adult wonder whether the performer’s seeming emotional problems were nature or nurture.
And I’ve got it on good authority that Spears or people claiming to represent her tipped off the paparazzi to several, if not most, of those precarious outings.
The instances of such tip-offs are far more frequent, and certainly more subtle, than the public imagines.
A personal publicist repping a C-list actress might call a friendly photographer if she’s having a romantic dinner at Il Sole with a better-known actor.
A manager, stylist, PA, masseur or maitre d’ who knows there’s money to be had in exchange for an inside tip might not hesitate to place a call.
Crazy at it might sound, the much-photographed star of a series I handled who had a nasty rivalry with another cast member once dropped a dime on her adversary – partly out of spite but also to score a favor when her own notorious activities might generate unwanted attention again.
It’s not unusual for managers and publicists to maintain a database of paparazzi (I’ve done it for years) just as they do with tabloid writers, editors and producers.
And get a few celebrity-beat journalists together and they’ll share hilarious stories about C- and D-list talent famous for phoning or texting their whereabouts to the media in the hopes of exiting Cut, Chateau Marmont or even the Century City AMC 15 with lights flashing and cameras rolling.
As expected, there’s conflicting opinions about AB2479.
