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08/01/2006: "A Common Thread"
Mel Gibson sits in his room in rehab, facing an embarrasing charge of DUI - and that's just the least of his worries. Lindsay Lohan strips damn near naked at the birthday party for a 40-yr old actor, and receives a letter from her producer threatening legal action because her incessant partying makes it a challenge for her to show up on set.)
It would be easy to pile on these two - and Lord knows enough others are. But I think these two events are signs of a deeper problem. If I party too hearty and miss a day of work - or get tossed in the slammer - few outside my immediate family will care. I'll miss a day of work, of course, but Boeing will survive. But when stars of this magnitude act with such irresponsible disregard, the price can be high - to them personally, but also to those with whom they work.
The 20-yr old Lohan - alternatively referred to as "Hohan" or "Blohan" by tabloid blogs, giving you some insight into her lifestyle choices - was taken to task by the producers of the movie she is currently filming after a series of late and missed set calls.
"You and your representatives have told us that your various late arrivals and absences from the set have been the result of illness; today we were told it was 'heat exhaustion,' " Robinson wrote. "We are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called 'exhaustion."
The letter goes on to indicate that Lohan could be held responsible for financial losses accrued by the production company as a result of her "immature behavior".
Gibson, who became a major power in Hollywood after the success of his film "The Passion of the Christ", is clearly not a teenaged party girl. But he was definitely drunk and disorderly when pulled over last weekend. Some of the statements he made belied certain feelings he had previously kept hidden, and there will be financial repercussions.
In each case, the celebrity fails to accept blame for their actions. Rather than own up to the responsibility they assumed when they accepted the boatloads of cash, they choose to hide behind canned statements by their handlers. Rather than act in a way that might let them serve as an example - albeit a tainted one - they choose damage control.
There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark," Gibson said in a statement issued by his publicist. "I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge."
No shit. But as one pundit put it earlier, the first words out of the mouth of a drunk tend to be those on the tip of their tongue.
Lohan had to resort to having her mother try and defend her actions.
"I feel when you are 19 (years old) it is way out of line. ... Maybe he has personal issues with whomever and it came out with my child," Dina Lohan said in an interview with Billy Bush. "I don't know him. I can't judge him. I don't think it was a smart thing to do to a young girl."
No attempt to take responsibility for the actions - just to discredit the source. Obviously she hasn't seen the party pictures yet - or just doesn't care.
Look, I understand it must suck to be invited to more parties than you can possibly attend, and to have paparrazzis and other hangers on kissing your ass constantly, but hey - that's the life you chose. You get paid obscene amounts of money for what you do - all you have to do is show up for work and not fuck up the rest of the time. These two clearly haven't figured it out yet.
And as for Dina Lohan, the stage-mother-from-hell who's been riding her daughter's gravy train since she was 10, trying to defend her daughter's behavior - shut up ... just shut the hell up.
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