In an earlier time, perhaps before TMZ and the utter explosion of the gossip/tabloid industry, this private indiscretion may have remained mostly private. Oh sure, the 'cheating' couple may have been found out by interested parties, but other than the scorned 'victims', it wouldn't have been anyone else's' business. But in today's hyperactive pop culture, not only is Stewart and Sanders' illicit hookup(s) public knowledge, but the parties, purely by virtue of being a well-known entertainer and a filmmaker, are now held accountable on a public stage. Stewart will now be judged not just by those to whom she is directly accountable, but also to the moral wags of society, never-mind that she has forever fought the idea of being a role model purely due to appearing in a popular franchise. Her personal problem is now not only public business but so acceptably public that the immediate recourse is a public apology. It's none of my damn business what Kristen Stewart and/or Rupert Sanders do in their private life, nor is it any of my business how Robert Pattinson and/or Liberty Ross choose to react to this revelation. But in this current media-saturated age, not only our the private indiscretions of celebrities fodder for public consumption, but the celebrities in question are absolutely expected to offer a public reaction as well.
I have obvious moral qualms with the story on principle (a 41-year old married father of two hooking up with a 22 year old woman isn't exactly the pinnacle of morality). And I have genuine annoyance with the idea of Rupert Sanders being given $175 million and a shiny new franchise despite no films or television under his belt and not only delivering a sub-par product but jeopardizing the very franchise he was entrusted with maintaining due to carnal yearnings. Even though the plan was always to ditch Snow White and focus on Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman, such a move would now be a PR disaster, basically firing the 'other woman' (who was the main financial draw for the first film's success) while keeping the equally culpable male director on-board for the sequel. But aside from my personal inside-baseball/studio politics take, this really isn't my business. We have a talented actress (along with, in my opinion, a less talented director), who never wanted the blinding limelight of tabloid celebrity (the vast majority of her films are little-seen indies), not only unwillingly forced to make her personal life utterly public, but now being forced, by virtue of our current 'everything is about ME too!' culture, to publicly apologize for a what appears to be a momentary private transgression as if we readers of US Weekly or viewers of TMZ are personally affected.
This incident, beyond whether or not said knowledge affects our willingness to buy a ticket to future projects involving either party, is not my damn business nor is it yours. Whatever my personal feelings towards the parties happen to be, I am far more unnerved by a current tabloid culture that demanded that Kristen Stewart apologize not just to the scorned parties but to you and me. We have no legal standing in this matter, nor do we have any standing upon which to claim real or emotional damages. In short, our culture has no right insisting that Kristen Stewart apologize to us. And the fact that she believed otherwise says something quite troubling about us.
Scott Mendelson
25 comments:
You completely missed the mark. Our culture didn't demand Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders apologize but Universal Studios and Summit Entertainment sure did. Both studios have sunk millions into these people and their returns could be jeopardized by this upheaval. It's no use defending either person because they were BOTH wrong.
it sounds like she is groveling. maybe pattinson is ignoring her, and not talking to her right now. either way it brings him, and sander's brings his wife into public drama. she should have kept it behind closed doors, and talk to rob that way.
I think it makes more sense to assume Robert Pattinson and Liberty Ross both demanded public apologies of their partners. Certainly it is not the gossip sites or tabloid culture that have wangled this; they were as surprised as anyone to get them, Kristen's in particular sounding so authentic at the end. It is highly unusual - if it was a culture shift you'd see this waaaay more often. This is directly related to the particulars, that is, the players involved. Don't blame the spectators.
Agree. I am appalled by the power (borderline criminal) of gossip blogs/tabloids. The way they tear people apart and set them up for public flagellation is horrific. They do not seem to abide by any moral code of conduct, ferocious and sanctimonious in equal measure. No mea culpa is demanded of male actors beating their wives/girlfriends to a pulp or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. And, if a wife decides to forgive the adulterous husband because she loves him or cares for her family or knows that it was just an incident, she is singled out for public scorn. As you said, this is none of our business.
what's going to happen if pattinson decides to take kristen back? they will make him out to be a weak man.
Did Kristen's PR team write this? Her whole schtick is blaming the media whenever she does anything wrong. Look, she doesn't have a problem with the tabloid culture when they provide her with millions of fans, and land her legit magazine covers and fashion endorsements, and help her become Forbes' highest paid actress, and she certainly didn't seem like she wanted to avoid fame and the spotlight when she agreed to do the $175 million Snow White movie. But when the PR is not the kind she wants, like when she made that comment about rape, or gets caught doing this, it's the awful media and she's just a poor normal girl who never wanted any of this. Puh-lease.
This whole thing leaves me with a sick feeling, same as the Tiger Woods scandal and others. The tabloids, and the masses, have made themselves the moral authority. I think cheating is a terrible, selfish, thing to do. I'm more annoyed by the people analyzing her apology, claiming that it is insincere or a PR schtick or a desperate attempt to get RPattz back or this or that. In the end, no one knows jack shit. Why not take it at face value? I'm annoyed at the people trying to make this even more salacious. Newsflash, it's pretty much impossible to have sex in a mini cooper based on the room. If the pap says the photo is a heavy petting/make out session, than that is what it was. If they had more, the tabloids and pap would have certainly run with it. I'm just annoyed at this public flogging of a moronic 22 year old. And in the end, I'm most bothered by the fact that a 22 year old is being held more responsible than a man twice her age, married, with kids. Both are wrong, but it just leaves me with an icky feeling that the media is so obviously slanting this.
For sure.
I do not think Ms. Stewart has the the thick skin to survive in the Hollywood limelight. I see her fading from view after the release of the final twilight film.
Please, she didn't blame the media and neither did Scott Mendelson for cheating. The girl admitted she fucked up. What's screwed up is that the tabloids, the media, etc. are continuing to flog a dead horse. I mean, Indiewire and EW analyzing an apology? I get that this is a news story, but it's like the tabloids are going way too far. They did the same thing with Tiger Woods to an extent. And it kind of sucks that the media is probably going to ruin her career. She damaged it, but the tabloids will ruin it. One's public image should have little to nothing to do with the role they play on screen. In this day and age, we have conflated the two though. Josh Brolin had the cops called on him for domestic violence and was papped kissing a woman who was not his wife on the lips. Sean Penn, domestic violence. There are millions of more examples. They manage to keep their careers, because they are men.
There's no complaining about tabloid fodder when your career is built upon that same foundation. Tabloid fodder made her the star she is, and she hasn't turned down any of the opportunities it has afforded her.
lol, i love this. some media outlets are trying to make pattinson be the bad guy. really? i'm waiting till ross is the one that they start to throw under the buss. then hey, maybe they can blame the kids. everyone is at fault but the two in the middle of cheating.
None that I have seen. She's the slutty slut slut who trapped and seduced the man old enough to be her father and fucked over sparkles, who is being portrayed like Jesus. Sick of this tabloid bullshit. Cheating is fucked up. This whole blow up media circus is even more fucked up. Gross. Really disappointed in Movieline's obsession with this shit to. Their articles reek of sanctimony and barely a word against Sanders.
oops, meant too.
I know this is a commentary blog, but I was not familiar with this story or the apology, so I would have liked some sort of an introduction/recap.
Agreed. Personally, I found it completely out of character that she released a public apology and at first I didn't buy it for that very reason. But having seen my Twihard friends act like the world is coming to an end and being totally disgusted by the way they're acting, which is that there were 3 people involved in the relationship, i.e Rob, Kristen and the Twihards, I understand why Kristen's PR people felt the need to do it despite it being such a sensitively personal matter. Even though she's fought against it, Twilight fans have put her on a pedestal. She did not want to be a role model but she became one anyway.
I don't condone cheating and in my eyes it seems like karma came round for some payback since Kristen and Rob did not have the most innocent courting period, however, I don't think the amount of attention it's receiving is warranted but the world has never been more invasive and demanding than it is now. Kristen can't handle this kind of spotlight and Rob, whatever his flaws, does not deserve the negative attention either, especially since he has a movie to promote in a couple of weeks while dealing with whatever he's dealing with. It's just horrible timing all around.
Rupert's family also deserves the chance to heal in private.
lol, i wouldn't be surprised if sanders gets the rep of being a casting couch director. the guy oozes creepy. maybe stewart needs her head checked for even wanting that thing to touch her? i've seen plenty of articles trying to make stewart out to be the victim. she is not the victim. pattinson, ross, and her two kids are the victims. they were royally screwed over by their "loves" i don't understand why stewart issued a public apology to pattinson when she should have done it to his face. guess he is not talking to her? sanders apology is a joke, and his dad sounds as great as he does. so much drama. bet tom and katy are happy.
i see her having a "breakdown" soon, and checking into rehad for her "problems." it's a classic move.
Wrong. What made her a star is Sean Penn in Into the Wild. That is the film that kept on giving. Got her noticed by Walter Salles' producer friend for On the Road before Twilight came out, and Twilight obviously. She worked hard, and none of this takes away from that. Obviously Sean saw talent in her, as did Fincher for Panic Room at age 11. Rob and Kristen have tried to avoid being in the tabloids like the PLAGUE, they were never famehoors like other couples *AndrewGarfieldcoughEmmaStonecough*. Which is sadly ironic now. Let's let them heal. Enough is enough.
I think she's at the end of her tether and it was desperation. Have some compassion. She fucked up, she's human.
I partly agree and disagree with your POV. You are right that the personal lives of celebrities are none of our business, though a lot of these called celebrities would sell their mother's soul to be in the spotlights for whatever reason. It's a two sided sword.
From the beginning Pattinson and Stewart made clear that they didn't own their fans their privacy and they were 100% right. The fans knew it and they respected them for that. More, they adored this couple that was so down to earth, humble and for them, being a fresh air in Hollywoods Barbie&Ken attitude.
Though a part of the Twilight community couldn't separate the fictional characters from the real life relationship, most of the fans of Rob and/or Kristen saw them as talented actors and an endearing couple, unique in many ways.
It is true that Rob is adored by millions of women (not teens alone) for being this gentle, authentic man. The fans know he is senstitive, true to himself but not flawless, nobody is. His love for Stewart was highly appreciated as everybody knew that he could have every woman he wanted, that he could afford himself to be a douchebag which he never was. Kristen never wanted to show PDA with Rob for reasons of privacy and most fans admired her ballsy attitude though others felt that she dishonoured Rob by not admitting they were a couple.
IMO she was never a role model but she was respected for her strong opinions about honesty, friendships and... cheating as she expressed in an interview in Cannes about her character in On the Road.
The passion this fandom felt for Rob and Kristen was more than once out of control, but because of this passion the Saga became this juggernaut, the fans brought them to the top of fame.
So when this news leaked, there was a strong disbelief. Nobody could see Stewart acting like this. Most important: the fact that she, the only one Rob trusted 100%, his soul mate, his love had done this to him made everybody in the fandom speechless. She who, more than anyone else, knew how the papps followed her every move, who kept her RL relationship hidden for the world as long as possible, met Sanders in a public area.
She who was so passionate herself about love and faith in relationships did this to the one who loved her the most, the one of whom she knew would be broken in every way possible if he had to confront a humiliation of this proportion. She did it to him and she did it to a mother with 2 children.
The fans discovered that there was a gap between her words and her actions, that she didn't seem to be the person she pretended to be.
Did she need to apologize publicly? Not at all, but the fans didn't ask for it. On the contrary, for the fandom she better didn't have done it. Her expressing her love for him publicly after having avoided everything concerning Rob for so long, feels a bit hypocritical now. She knows the fans are well aware of the damage she caused to Rob, she knows that her words now sound hollow.
In a general POV, you are right that, with the internet and the social networks, the non existing ethic of the tabloids, things go way out of control. Robert and Kristen may be, sadly enough, considered as the first victims of this culture. They (especially Rob) didn't had privacy for years and because of her 'momentariy indiscretion' they have none now.
I'm not in a position to judge, I can only hope that Kristen learns from this eye opening experience, that she learns to appreciate what she gets in life.
I hope Rob will recover, but it will be very tough for him, all his fans know.
it's up to them and it's nobody's business.
Unfortunately, with her statement she allowed people to make it their business. Bad advice though understandable and more honest than the usual dammage control.
People of Summit will break their head over this. Not that British quirky, stubborn boy that didn't play their game caused the so feared drama, it was their princess.
English isn't my native language.
excellent--I would give a thousand thumbs up if i could.
Oh my god. This post gets the most comments that I've ever seen.
Thanks, Solas, I just couldn't let this one go. There's much to say about the fans but not that they forced her to humiliate herself with this apologize. That was her own decision and it's still only a fraction of the humiliation she gave him among the rest he has to deal with now.
I agree with you, period.
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