On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 10:15 AM, Melissa P <takingupspace...@gmail.com> wrote:
> No interviewers are asking Tom Cruise about Scientology. Here's why that's > not surprising. from The Washington Post > > > > http://wapo.st/1JVTT3y > So, no, Ms. Yahr does not really give us the reason why Cruise is not being asked the S questions, though I agree the fact that he is not is not surprising. The problem with her column is she is lumping when she should be splitting. Yes, of course, celebrity interviews are a two way-business transaction; the celeb is promoting a project (something they are usually contractually obligated to do - they don't get paid all that money just to have fun for 12 weeks with other attractive people), and the interviewer gets either ratings, or access to other celebs who work for the same company who will give them ratings down the line. Under such an arrangement, it would be rude, or "un-cool" to ask Ben Affleck about his divorce or Jennifer Lawrence about unauthorized naked pictures, when those people are on your show just doing their job and helping you. Tom Cruise however is in a much different situation. He has been publicly accused by a credible source of being a direct party to unsavory, immoral and perhaps illegal activity. He is much more similar to Bill Cosby's situation than he is to Jennifer Lawrence's. Note I said Cruise was closer to Cosby, not that he is in the exact same situation as Cosby. I don't think Cosby could have appeared on Letterman in the last 6 months and not get asked about his allegations (indeed Cosby cancelled a Dave appearance within the last year, presumably because he knew he would be asked). It is impossible to believe Cosby could be on TDS and not get asked The Question. Cruise is in more of a grey area between a celeb who is either the victim of crappy behavior by others, or has engaged in crappy behavior themselves, and a celeb about whom the preponderance of publicly available information suggests has committed horrific and illegal acts. While I think it would be uncool to ask JLaw about her pics, and irresponsible not to ask Cosby about his apparent serial rape behavior, I think that, for a celebrity interviewer, either asking or not asking Cruise the tough question is defendable. I would have gotten a bit of a thrill if Jon Stewart had told Cruise and their shared Viacom overlords that he was happy to have Cruise on the show, but he should be prepared to ask a question or two about the charges in "Going Clear". Cruise would have backed out, Viacom would have been pissed but, what would they do, fire him? But I am not disappointed if, as seems to have happened, Stewart concluded that ignoring this kind of thing is part of the corporate circle jerk that is his job, and perhaps this is a good example of why he has decided that, like Danny Glover, he is too old for this shit. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
