What do Tavis Smiley, Sally Fields, Clare Danes, Orlando Bloom and
Liam Neeson have in common? All of them, plus a dozen more other
celebrities are in line to get a coveted star on the sidewalk in
Hollywood known as the Walk of Fame. But which of these "honorees"
will confess and tell the truth to fans and reporters covering the
unveiling ceremonies next year that they or their
studio/network/publisher/label paid for the star to the tune of
$30,000?
Tavis? Will you go first? Orlando? Liam?
Usually, the "awards" are timed by the PR agents to coincide with a celebrity's
recent new movie, new book, new CD or new campaign for this or that. These things
do not just happen by accident.
Who among the 24 honorees will mention this when they give their
acceptance speeches, when they wax poetic and say how ''honored'' they
are to get this "award" and how ''surprised'' they were to find out
they were getting such a wonderful prize, as if they didn't know a
year or so earlier. Sure. Surprised?
A few years ago, when I first started following this issue, I wrote a
commentary headlined
''Let's Stop Pretending Getting a Star on the Walk of Fame Is a Real
Honor'' in which I spilled
the beans on how celebrities today get stars on the Walk of
Fame in Hollywood. And I asked the national media to start reporting
the backstory to the
Walk of Fame "awards," since they are not really awards at all, but
paid public relations events. And that's cool. Paid public relations
events have always
been a part of Hollywood culture, and the Walk of Fame fits well into
that picture, too. But not one recipient has ever told the truth
behind the annual "awards," which are paid for in advance and which
even the Walk of Fame Committee which "selects" the awardess every
year admits on its website for all to see. Who will be first to face
the media and their fans and confess?
So far, the Associated Press reports the costs of the stars, while
Reuters and Agence France-Presse do not. Why not? Why the cover-up?
For more than 50 years, the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been handing
out stars to stars, from Joanne Woodward in 1960 -- she was the first
to land one -- to Charlie Chaplin and Dennis Hopper and Bill Maher and
Penelope Cruz. It's a time-honored tradition,
makes for great photo opps, fits nicely into marketing and PR
campaigns, and it's fun. Everyone in Hollywood knows the backstory to
the Walk of Fame, how the events are part of the Hollywood tourism
industry and are paid for by the studios themselves. The money covers
sidewalk maintenance, the award
event itself, media outreach and other things.
But while the film industry and the news media know that the stars on
the Walk of Fame are part of a savvy PR enterprise, and not actual
awards or honors themselves, news outlets from Reuters to CNN
and AFP continue to play along with the award events and cover the
day's speeches as if it's a big honor. And the news photos
that go out on the wire the next day, reprinted in thousands of
newspapers and blogs and websites, make it appear as if Star X
actually won a new award. Isn't it time to stop this hypocrisy on the
part of the news media? Isn't it time for Reuters and CNN to
report the real back story behind the awarding of the stars each time
the wire photos go worldwide, just as a truth-in-reporting service to
readers and fans? It sometimes seems as if the media keeps running
photos of celebrities no matter what they do, even if what they do is
not so newsworthy at all. When does this news charade stop, and when
does better reporting begin? In the Internet age, which the true story
about the paid nature of the stars available even on Wikipedia, the
media still pretends there are real awards.
When I asked the Associated Press wire service in New York and Los Angeles
if its reporters could start covering the Walk of Fame ceremonies and
star awards more accurately, by at least
informing readers that the sidewalk stars cost $30,000 and are paid
for by the stars themselves or their studios, An AP editor heard me
out and wrote back, noting: "You've made an interesting point
about how the media reports the Walk of Fame ceremonies. If your facts
are correct, you’re exactly right that we should add that context
[that the star ceremony is a paid publicity event]. I’ll pass along to
our entertainment editor."
He did and now AP reports the facts.
When Shakira
got her star on the Walk of Fame a few years ago, the very last paragraph
of a very thorough news story by AP reporter Edwin Tamara said: "A
committee selects celebrities eligible for a Walk of Fame star and
those who accept pay US$30,000 in costs and fees."
Telling the truth about the paid PR part of the sidewalk stars does
not dimish the public
relations value of the unveiling event, nor does it dimish the
celebrity's reputation or image. It's a win-win situation for
everyone: the studios, the stars, the Walk of Fame committee, and most
importantly, readers not only in America but around the world as
well.
Isn't it time for the news media and all media outlets, print and
online, to at least print one brief sentence that characterizes the
Walk of Fame events as PR and not as actual honors?
And isn't it time for the awardees themselves, from Tavis Smiley to
Orlando Bloom and all the others in line for the 2014 "awards" to fess
up and stop "pretending" how honored they are to get a star on the
fabled sidewalk?
When I told the late film critic Roger Ebert about my
lobbying campaign on this issue, he told
me by email to forget about it and focus on more important things,
like the way studios "buy" Oscars with fullpage ads in the trades and
other expensive marketing campaigns.
He also told me that a group of his friends in Chicago had even once
chipped in and bought a star on the Walk of Fame for him, too, and
that the entire thing was fun for him, including the unveiling
ceremony in Hollywood.
And yes, long live the Walk of Fame. But let's tell the truth about
it. So truthteller Tavis Smiley, how about you be the first. I heard
Piers Morgan congratulating you the other day on CNN for getting the
nod for a star in 2014 and you said, "Thanks, Piers. It really is a
nice honor."
Who's kidding who?
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REFERENCES AND LINKS
link to AP story: with last graph about Shakira's paid star:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/
PREVIOUS WALK OF FAME internet links:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/