12/31/2007

in

Those celebrity photo scandals? The big story is... there's a way to avoid them!

Susie Kopecky

There's a famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill, which goes like this: "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to gets its pants on." In a number of recent cases, lies haven't been necessary, as celebrities have been getting themselves in trouble. The connecting string between Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and others? They didn't have to take compromising photos, and yet somehow they did. If you don't want a photo to show up again, you probably shouldn't take it.  
  
Each of these actresses/singers were each in charge of their own destiny when they engaged in foolish or lascivious activity before a camera. As a celebrity, they should know how the mainstream media has a way of finding embarrassing things out. This is not a new phenomenon. Politicians must be careful what they say when they are in a position to offend, and actresses must be careful in what pictures they pose in. Paris Hilton gained notoriety when her self-filmed sex tape was released to the public. Had she thought about the possibility of becoming an internet joke with the video "A Night in Paris"? Probably not. Vanessa Hudgens, a star of the wildly popular Disney "High School Musical" series, didn't really need to send those nude pictures of herself to anyone, and yet she made a conscious decision to do so. Surely an impulsive and rash thing to do, but worse yet, it tarnished her reputation far more than any paparazzi photo had done. Now Miley Cyris is voicing her anger over having silly pictures of herself in the media. The pictures in question, are described by Reuters as Cyrus "frolicking with a friend on a hotel floor," where Cyrus is "...sitting on the floor of a hotel with one of her friends getting close, goofing around and sharing a piece of candy." It sounds like some teenagers being dumb, not fodder for paparazzi, and yet, as a celebrity, Cyrus should've known that people will find ways to see celebrities get embarrassed and act like regular people too. Cyrus lamented that her friend in the picture will have to deal with the "crap" attention, and found the whole incident so personally upsetting, as"... but this ... it's Satan attacking and it's just one more thing I have to deal with. But it's not something that I'm going to let slide because I really am upset about it."  
  
How ironic that these stars should be the cause of their troubles. Next time there's a chance to take a picture which could be construed as scandalous, perhaps it's best not to take that picture. As under-21 college students know, un-tag those facebook photos of yourself drinking. And as celebrities should know, if you're in the news and your face is plastered around everywhere, there are more people aware of the dumb things you do, so at least try to minimize what is caught on the film. Start off 2008 with a slightly more modest attitude, at least toward the cameras. Good luck and happy 2008!