Showbiz Sandbox 126: Foot In Mouth Disease Sweeps Through Hollywood
November 14, 2011
Getting publicity in Hollywood can be a very difficult task. If you are an A-list director like Brett Ratner or a hot actor like Ashton Kutcher however, all you need to do is make a bigoted statement or fire off an ignorant Twitter post and you’ll get more ink than you ever wanted. Ratner’s homophobic slur forced him to resign as producer of next year’s Oscars, while Kutcher’s uninformed opinion on current events caused him to rethink his social media participation. Has the entertainment industry become overly sensitive or do its inhabitants just have no class? We try to figure out what all the fuss is about.
The other big news of the week was the sale of record label EMI to Universal Music Group and Sony. EMI’s owner, Citibank, decided to split the record label from its publishing arm in an effort to get the deal passed antitrust regulators. As the music industry contracts from four major record companies to three, what will it mean for indie artists and their fans?
Broadway may also be undergoing some changes soon. Long running musicals such as “Mamma Mia!”, “Chicago” and “Mary Poppins” seem to be fading fast and may need to make way for new productions such as a revival of “Porgy & Bess”, “Evita” featuring Ricky Martin and a stage version of “Bonnie & Clyde”.
We also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including, but not limited to, the introduction of Amazon’s lending library, Jay-Z’s new T-shirt business and film critic Roger Ebert’s quest to find a sponsor for his weekly television show.
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A Scorched Earth Debut For Call Of Duty
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/a-scorched-earth-debut-for-call-of-duty/
Relativity Media Is At A Crossroads
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-fi-ct-relativity-20111112,0,5416601.story
Brett Ratner’s 10 Offensive Quotes That Ended In Oscar Trouble
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brett-ratner-fired-oscars-olivia-munn-258883
How Much Will Eddie Murphy’s Oscar Exit Effect His Career?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eddie-murphy-oscars-career-brett-ratner-259479
Billy Crystal To Host The Oscars
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/billy-crystal-oscars-host-eddie-murphy-brett-ratner-259475
Ricky Gervais Offers To Host Oscars Following Eddie Murphy, Brett Ratner Exits
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brett-ratner-eddie-murphy-oscars-ricky-gervais-260153
Ashton Kutcher No Longer Trusts Himself To Tweet
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/ashton-kutcher-no-longer-trusts-himself-to-tweet.html
Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Management
http://aplusk.posterous.com/twitter-management
Theater Mania’s Broadway Grosses
http://www.theatermania.com/extras/broadwayGrosses/
Could Amazon’s Lending Library End In Court
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/49430-could-amazon–s-lending-library-end-in-court-.html
Jay-Z’s Occupy Wall Street T-Shirts Removed After Criticism
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jay-z-occupy-wall-street-shirts-removed-260830
New York Magazine Hikes Cover Price
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/new-york-hike-cover-price-136459
Live Nation Reports Drop In Concert Attendance
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/11/live-nation-reports-drop-in-concert-attendance.html
Introducing Vanity Fair’s New Film Critic
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/11/Mazursky-at-the-Movies-Introducing-VFcoms-New-Critic-and-Reviews-of-iMelancholiai-and-iJEdgari
Reality TVs Instant Stars Populate A Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/business/media/reality-tvs-instant-stars-populate-a-magazine.html
Move Over Nashville: New Yorkers Buy Most Country Albums
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/move-over-nashville-new-yorkers-buy-most-country-albums/
IMDB Strikes Back at ‘Selfish’ Actress Suing Over Age Disclosure
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/imdb-strikes-back-at-selfish-261010
The Children Are Our Future, And They Don’t Pay For TV
http://gigaom.com/video/cord-nevers-dish/
Digital Music Sales On Track To Rise 7% In 2011
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/11/digital-music-sales-on-track-to-rise-7-in-2011.html
Famous Former Nun Sues Disney For Stealing Sister Act
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/nun-sues-disney-for-stealing-sister-act.html
The Chimes At Midnight
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/11/unless_we_find_an_angel.html
Universal, Sony Win Dual Bids To Buy EMI Group
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/11/universal-and-sony-snap-up-emi-music.html
Indie Labels Raise Red Flag On Universal and Sony Bids For EMI
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=47056_0_2_0_C
CD-Format To Be Abandoned By Major Labels By The End of 2012
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=46980_0_2_0_C
Music Is A Big Hit On Facebook
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/11/music-is-a-big-hit-on-facebook-new-stats.html
Van Halen To Sign with Interscope Records
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/van-halen-sign-interscope-records-260692
Black Sabbath Announces Another Reunion
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/11/black_sabbath_a.html
Yikes! The Digital Music Business Is Still Stuck In 2005.
http://allthingsd.com/20111110/yikes-the-digital-music-business-is-still-stuck-in-2005/
Ashton Kutcher made an innocent mistake and Brett Ratner did everything one could ask after making an offensive remark. And yet they both got slapped down. What happened to politely accepting an apology? Not Hollywood’s speed, I guess.