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Rehab Refuge May Not Work for Imus James Hirsen
THE LEFT COAST
REPORT
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Rehab Refuge May Not Work for Imus Al Sharpton told the Associated Press, "I accept his apology, just as I want his bosses to accept his resignation." Jesse Jackson, at a protest outside Chicago's NBC tower, said, "This was not a slip of the lip. This was a conversation . . . [and] corporate sponsors have a role to play in not sponsoring these acts of racial bigotry." What caused all the commotion was that during one of his morning talk-radio shows, (which incidentally are also simulcast on MSNBC), morning radio talk-show host Don Imus had an exchange with one of his radio entourage members in which he described the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
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Both his home station WFAN and cable venue MSNBC condemned the remarks, and Imus was quick to deliver an on-air apology. Still, Sharpton plans to send a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission and picket the radio host's New York home if he isn't gone within a week. If Imus tries to follow the Hollywood formula and seek refuge in rehab, it may not work. His humor has gotten him in trouble before. He once called PBS' Gwen Ifill a "cleaning lady" and characterized William Rhoden of The New York Times as "a quota hire." Sharpton has compared Imus to another celebrity who got in hot water for his unfunny rantings. "This is not some unemployed comic like Michael Richards," Sharpton said. "This is an established figure, allowed to use the airwaves for sexist and racist remarks." If Sharpton gets his way, satellite radio may soon have another terrestrial fleeing New York talk-show host to add to its roster. 2. John Edwards' Phony Fox Attack For the second time in recent months, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has canceled his participation in a debate because of Fox News Channel's involvement. Since August 2000, the former North Carolina senator went on FNC 33 times without objection. In what seemed like a desperate attempt to distinguish himself from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, when far-left activist groups like MoveOn.org started pressuring him, Edwards bowed to bloggers' demands. "We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," Edwards' deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince whimpered to The Associated Press. The Edwards campaign suggested that the carefully coiffed candidate is "'looking forward to a different debate hosted by the institute and CNN in South Carolina in January 2008." Based on his quick cave-in to pesky lefties, Edwards has shown that for either of his Americas, when push comes to shove, he'll roll like a baloney sausage. 3. Producer of 'Girls Gone Wild' Opines on Judge 'Gone Wild' It seems as though late night infomercial mogul and creator of the infamous "Girl Gone Wild" DVD is playing with fire. Joe Francis recently told The Associated Press that U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak "had lost his mind." He also referred to his current situation as "a case of a judge gone wild." What prompted the outburst was the fact that Judge Smoak had ordered Francis to be put in the slammer for contempt of court after he failed to appear at a mediation hearing. Francis has been sued by seven women who, when Francis' company filmed them on Panama City Beach, happened to be minors. Lawyers for the women claim that Francis threatened them during negotiations.
Attorneys for Francis filed an appeal in an attempt to set aside the contempt order that could send their client to jail. Despite his angry statements, in an appearance on "Geraldo at Large" Francis told Laurie Dhue that he would turn himself in to the authorities. 4. Disney Queasy About Keith Richards' Ash Remarks Disney is having some PR problems. Besides being in charge of "The View," the program that's enabling Rosie O'Donnell to spout her enemy-pleasing inanity, the company also has Rolling Stone Keith Richards contracted to appear in an upcoming sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Richards' recent comments about snorting his deceased father's ashes mixed with cocaine likely had executives applying "Head On" directly to their foreheads.
The rocker who made news last year after falling from a coconut tree now claims he was only joking about the nasal experience. Senior vice president Dennis Rice told U.K. music magazine NME, "When [a senior Disney publicist] forwarded the [Richards] story to me, I thought ‘How are we going to spin this?'" The Disney exec evidently doesn't subscribe to the old adage that any publicity is good publicity. "Keith won't be doing a lot of publicity for this movie," Rice divulged. 5. Phil Spector Prosecutor Asks Judge to Protect Actress' Rep The judge in the Phil Spector murder trial will be making some decisions that could have a profound effect on the outcome of the case. Victim Lana Clarkson was an actress best known for her role in the 1980s cult film "Barbarian Queen." In her career, Clarkson had the occasion to handle guns. Now her film content has become the subject of a legal tug-of-war. Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson has asked the trial judge to disallow as evidence DVD clips of Clarkson acting in TV and movies, which show her holding a gun and which contain sexual content. "The most obvious point, however, is that the victim is acting. She is in scenes created by others, speaking lines written by others, and conducting herself as directed by others," Jackson's motion reads. "Those characters are not Lana Clarkson any more than Sir Anthony Hopkins is Hannibal Lecter." The prosecution is also requesting evidence be excluded that the victim might be someone who would be inclined to commit suicide. Jackson argued in moving papers that Spector's defense lawyers "will attempt to attack the character of victim Lana Clarkson by painting her as the kind of person who might kill herself." One of the witnesses that the defense may call is a one-time friend of Clarkson known as "Punkin Pie" Laughlin, who told defense investigators that the actress said on two occasions that she wanted to kill herself and that she abused prescription drugs. Jackson also seeks to exclude a memoir found on Clarkson's computer where she wrote about using cocaine in her youth. Laughlin would likely tell jurors that the "victim was trained to handle guns because of her movie roles, felt humiliated by her job as VIP hostess at The House of Blues, used Vicodin recreationally and twice told Punkin Pie that she wanted to kill herself." Another defense witness, Clarkson friend Jennifer Hayes, claims her friend was "a depressed unsuccessful actress and a horrible stand-up comic." Hayes would likely tell the jury that Clarkson was someone who couldn't handle rejection "and felt humiliated by her nightclub job." Playwright John Barons is identified as a witness in the moving papers. Barons would likely compare Clarkson to Marilyn Monroe and say she was like other young actresses who might say, "If I don't make it by 40 I will jump off a bridge."
In addition, Barons would likely say Clarkson could have accidentally shot herself because she was "accident prone and clutzy." In another motion, Jackson asked the judge to allow testimony that would allegedly show a "long history of gun-related violence directed at women" on the part of Spector.
One of the prosecution witnesses is Devra Robitaille, a former employee and girlfriend who claims that decades ago in two separate incidents the record producer pointed a gun at her head. With cameras in the courtroom, the trial has all the makings of a John Grisham movie. Editor's Notes:
The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax — The Left Coast Report Archives Get your FREE copy of James Hirsen's new book 'Hollywood Nation' — Click Here Now.
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