Equal Protection? Bah!
L.A. councilman Dennis Zine is urging a proposal in the wake of the
pop star's latest psychiatric emergency that would implement a 20-yard
"personal safety zone" around celebrities after Spears' ambulance had
to be surrounded by police cars and helicopters late last month to
prevent the paparazzi from snapping photos of the singer en route to
the hospital. ...The tentatively termed "Britney Law" would
have the right to confiscate all profits from any photograph taken
without signed consent within the bubble of safety around any celebrity.
Different River:
Why can't they just make it illegal to follow someone around and interfere with what they're doing to the point of harrassment, blocking traffic, etc.?
And have that law apply to everybody, not just "licenced celebrities."
I mean really -- I'm all for freedom, but the right to swing one's fist ends at someone else's nose, and they've been hitting Spears' (metaphorical) nose quite hard for a long time.
February 13, 2008, 9:24 amRocky Mountain:
Probably not too many people take Britney Spears seriously and I feel somewhat embarrassed even knowing what little I do about it. Having said that, I find the spectacle of 'paparazzi' continuously hounding her and other 'stars' to be shocking, offensive, and just plain wrong. I know the arguments that will follow saying something along the lines that she and others either deserve it, love it or invite it, or, and most ingenuous of all, they (the paparazzi) are just 'doing their jobs', but I'm not so sure. One of the problems with these arguments are that ordinary people sometimes get caught up in media feeding frenzies because of their accidental involvement in a allegedly newsworthy event, so its not just about stars. Example: Gerald and Kate McCann. I can't think of too many things more odious then the way nasty little cameramen have stuck their lenses in the faces and lives of those grieving people and doubly now since the Portuguese authorities have admitted that they aren't legitimate suspects in the disappearance of their five year old daughter.
February 13, 2008, 9:26 amBritney Spears Fan:
It's an interesting law, and I wonder about it's merits. The media should give a person a break if they are being hauled to the hospital. And the medics should have plenty of free room to get to the person with a medical need without having to trip over reporters and camera people.
March 28, 2008, 2:19 pm