So Tiger Woods finally gave a press conference where he’s actually allowed reporters to … gasp … ask questions that weren’t screened beforehand by Tiger Woods Inc.
It went off without any noticeable hitches for Eldrick Tont. The press corps decided to give him a break I guess. They didn’t rake him over the coals about what really happened with his car, his wife and the golf club. If the beat reporters want to cut him some slack, that’s their prerogative and I’m not going to tell them how to do their job.
What I don’t buy is this faux Puritanical finger wagging from some quarters (including my mom, God bless her) that such questions are off limits because “It’s nobody’s business but Tiger’s.”
If that were true Tiger wouldn’t be pulling in over $40 million a year and probably wouldn’t have even have had an opportunity to sleep around with as many bimbos as he did. The fact is Tiger Woods Inc. is a publically traded company and we all own a share. If you’ve ever watched a golf tournament he was playing in, bought his game from EA Sports, a pair of Nikes, even if you watched one his (now incredibly ironic) car commercials you have bought a share of Tiger Woods and in turn helped propel him to the financial heights where he can buy sell the VJ Singh’s of the world.
Maybe Charles Barkley was right. Maybe he’s not a role model, and neither is Tiger Woods. But he’s still the face of a franchise. So until he tells the shoe companies, the videogame companies, the sports drink people, and all those people to take their dump trucks full of money and empty them out on some other sucker’s driveway then he does owe his public and his fans.
This doesn’t mean the shareholder gets unlimited access or gets to make insane demands. If you honestly have to know what Tom Cruise’s bowel movements look like, you should seek professional help.
But I’m sick of hearing celebs use the nuts as an excuse to shrug off their bad behavior. To act as if they aren’t accountable to the public that made them gazillionaires in the first place.
If you honestly value your privacy that much, you know where the D List is. Ask Kathy Griffin how much fun that is.