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Fans should know when a star is lying
By Nestor Torre
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:07:00 03/03/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Show business is supposed to be all glamour, but quite often, it can also be rather snotty and smarmy. Stardom has so many yummy perks that some show biz denizens are prepared to do anything and everything to acquire and sustain it, no matter who gets hurt or used.
Trouble is, quite often, the victims are the members of the entertainment audience — and therein lie a number of cautionary tales:
The worst new trend on the tube is some fading stars’ shameless effort to prop up their sagging careers or promote a comeback project by inventing or exaggerating scandals and controversies, and getting the viewing, listening and reading public all hot and bothered over — nothing.
The “inventive” stars’ accomplices in crime and grime are the show biz-oriented programs that headline these spurious scandals, and thus feed the fibbing stars’ hunger for publicity. We can’t say for sure if the cooperativeness is financially stoked, but even if it isn’t, it’s still scandalous in its own right, because it deceives the public.
So, what are exploited fans to do to protect themselves from such tacky tactics? They should be able to tell when a star is lying through his or her teeth. The most obvious indication of this is when, after crying his or her eyes out over a “painful” controversy, the star takes a deep breath, makes a quick emotional shift, and smartly plugs his or her new production or album!
Another tacky trick that rears its pointy head around the time when stellar contracts are up for renewal is some TV luminaries’ penchant for spreading rumors that they’re being pirated by a rival channel.
The blatant motivation here is for the star to look like a hot property whom everyone is eager to sign up—so that he or she can get a hefty raise from his or her mother network, when contract renewal time comes around.
Disbelieve rumors
This happens so regularly that network executives can pretty much predict it like the onset of the rainy season—but, the viewing public is less savvy, so it falls for the self-servicing ruse, hook, line and “stinker.”
Now to prevent yourself from being taken for a ride in this wise? Disbelieve all such rumors, period.
A third show biz irritant is some stars and starlets’ penchant for fighting, not face-to-face, but on the radio or TV. Feuding celebrities are separately interviewed by different stations, and they sequentially react to each other’s escalating tirades, thus stretching their verbal “duel” for days, or even weeks.
Why, some listeners and viewers moan, can’t these stars talk to each other directly, like normal people? Well, they could—but, they would lose out on all of the publicity mileage they reap from their all-too-public teapot tempests!
Tired of being taken for a ride in this wise? The next time you hear feuding stars lashing out at each other on radio or TV, switch stations instantly!
Finally, don’t look now, but it isn’t only the stars and starlets who are figuring in show biz “news” items these days—their “stage parents,” other relatives, friends, managers, neighbors, stylists, childhood chums and even house helpers are getting in on the act! Each saling-pusa or uzi has something to say about the scandal or issue at hand, basking in the stars’ reflected glory and enjoying his or her 15 seconds of second-hand “fame.”
What’s going on here? Programs are so desperate for scoops that most anybody with a new tidbit to add to a festering tale is thrust in front of the microphone or camera. The scene has gotten so crowded with these self-styled “defenders” and “offenders” that viewers are being turned off in droves. They’re interested in the stars involved in show biz issues, not in their hangers-on.
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