I’m a great fan of Penn the actor. I disagree with 99% of his political views. But if he can take down even one paparrazzo, it would be a great service to us all.

Maybe he was just trying to shake the “Milk” image.

hello. and the juxtaposition you referred to occurred to me. “don’t do the crime if you are not willing to do the time”. that is a common moniker from prison, meant to silence whiners. perhaps that is the origin of my thought thread: if you are going to be charged with a crime and have to do time, be criminal about it. do not restrain yourself, do not hold back, do not control your outrage- let loose. i read Mr. Penn was very restrained, and my comment was that if he has to do time- i do not want to be the person he goes after next time. if not him, perhaps others setting their own ground rules.

hello again. Mr Zing, i appreciate your esoteric approach. although you did conjure my memory of the “Baretta” tv show, it was not what inspired my comment. i believe there will be people with cameras getting seriously hurt by people they stalk. celebrity is a beast usually of its own making, although some are unexpectedly thrust there. i disagree with your rant about celebrity using valuable space. entertainment is more important than worlds colliding in 2012; and only the elites being allowed in the caves. the failing print industry needs celebrities; just as much as political theatrics. advertising floats towards ratings and circulation, and journalism is advertising driven. celebrities attract attention equal to death and taxes. celebrities represent advertising clout.

Hi Kerryrose,

They do have laws to protect celebrities. It’s called The Constitution.  It was just ignored by short-sighted judges in the twentieth century who ruled that celebrities lose their rights.

The only problem with that legal precedent is any weakening of the The Constitution for celebrities weakens constitutional protections for all of us.

Sean Penn is fighting to get back his rights that were lost. He’s fighting the complete and utter insanity that turned much of our news media into a bunch of panty-sniffing voyeurs who dish up celebrity smegma for profit and push hard news off the front pages and into the background of the network news.

Wow. Got a little carried away there. But I hope you see my point.  Have a good day.

Rollzone said: if you are going to have to do time, why not do the crime

I started cracking up when I read this. Robert Downey Jr. quotes the theme song to The Jeffersons in Tropic Thunder while playing the role of an Australian who’s playing the role of an African American. 

And you paraphrase the theme song to Baretta while commenting on TruthDig. 

That’s awesome, dude. Keep up the esoteric analysis.

I always wonder why there are no laws that protect celebrities from being stalked.. outside of their home, everywhere they go…

Why can’t Penn charge the photographer for stalking and invasion of privacy.  He could state that he felt his life was being threatened.  Maybe there was a gun in the camera that was pointed at him???

What judge could refute a possible murder attempt?

By joejhson, February 20 at 4:06 am #

I suspect the reason you can’t decide who to root for is that many celebrities and paparazzo are just two sides of the same coin.  Slimy attention whores get the paparazzo they deserve.  Since the ranks of over valued celebrities are drawn from
the vast reserves of superficial, self important, nepotism-endowed,
exhibitionistic, often talentless hacks that crawl the streets of hollywood, I have
little sympathy for their claims of violated privacy which they already sold to the
highest bidder.  Besides, some jail time for pompous Sean will only inform his
acting chops and bolster that gritty bad-boy image of himself he so likes to
peddle to his admirers.

hello. i am disinterested by the big brother paranoia. if Mr. Penn has to do time, i predict a new wave of assaults against people with cameras. people with cameras may be shot at. if you are going to have to do time, why not do the crime? i am no lawyer, perhaps Oboymamma can tell you if a person owns his/her own image, and what becomes public domain. more money for lawyers.

By PlasticDooor, February 20 at 5:32 am #

Its the tabloid rags which put these actors in the public mindset, day after day.  By simply walking through the checkout I know of actors I have never seen, and their picadillos.  Most of the actors soak it up as their celebrity egos require it, but once they make it, they react like Penn did.

By D.R. Zing, February 20 at 10:59 am #

Yes, in this age of government surveillance, they have become the paparatzi and there is diddley we can do about it. Some of the current spate of movies portray this like “Eagle Eye”.

I would like to see the day, when one of these “violent” superstars will run into a paparazzi, who when attacked, will beat the shit out of a tough guy. Just for the fun of it, I would like to see the embarassement.

@PatrickHenry

You are looking at it from a fan’s point of view not the law.  There’s no law that describes what you speak.  The same laws that protect you and I are the same laws that protect Sean Penn.  If photographers can stalk him, follow him around in public, take pictures even when he expressly feels he’s being harassed—that means they can do it to me and you. 

They might not be doing it now, but they have established the legal precedent even though the laws of privacy forbid it.

Privacy doesn’t simply mean being able to lock yourself in a closet and tweedle your thumbs.  It’s the right to go to the grocery store and shop without being harassed, it’s the right to shop all day with no strangers stalking you and taking pictures, it’s the right to lunge in a sudden dash of cramps and run to the restroom and take an exhaustive crap with nobody putting it on the Web. 

Think about that.

Now turn the camera around, my friend. You walk around town and try to film every moment of your life from your perspective.

You will find that even though your picture is being taken everywhere you go, you cannot take pictures or film everything that you see. 

They will throw you and your camera out. 

And I’m not talking about you walking around like a moron paperazzi shooting pictures and being a jerk hard. You cannot document your life.  They can take pictures of you, but you can’t take pictures of the stores you shop, the convenience store where you buy gas and junk, the restaurant where they shoot pictures of you at the cash register.

Nowhere. They will throw your ass out if you don’t beg for permission first but they sure as hell take your picture without permission.

Get it.  The man with the camera wins. You don’t want the fucker stalking your ass just because you did something stupid enough to get on CNN or just because you happened to be in some personal or natural catastrophe that made the celebrity news media shine its wicked light on you.

They’re the ones taking the pictures, dude. And at some point you’re going to realize you want to walk in that door and say, hey, I need to take a crap, go turn off your damn security cam you’ve got hidden in the vents of your bathroom right damn now.  And he’s gonna tell you to crap in your hat, because he can film Sean Penn and he can damn sure film you.   

Oh dammnit, PatrickHenry everything I wrote above is a crock of simmering cow dung.  It has no logic, no sense, it’s all just one damn big rationalization.

I just want to see Sean Penn kick the shit out of a rat photographer. 

I’m sorry.

PH—Glad you’re understanding (as well as agreeing; that’s
nice, too) that the photographers are scum.  I’m just not
convinced the actors “need” them; for what?  That “need” is
what they have publicists for.  Papparazzi are yellow
journalists; muckrakers; vampires. That’s all they do. I just
can’t fathom that any celeb would ever feel any need
whatsoever for them. I have yet to see a papparazzo provide
useful or even relevant information at all.

The ones that “need” them are the parasite mags and
publications that are also bottom-feeding scum; doesn’t
matter if its Vanity Fair or The Weekly World News.  All those
mags are shit;  the Drano of the mind.

By PlasticDooor, February 20 at 12:33 am #

Yes, I agree with your point that papparatzos are scum but the actors and actresses need them, once the genies out of the bottle, you can’t control them.

Penns taking one out merely serves to provide more media attention and distraction.

@PatrickHenry, February 19 at 11:50 pm #  “The grossly overpaid actors
and actresses give up their right to privacy in return for fame.—- Can’t
have it both ways.”

The papparazo deserved everything he got. He ASKED for it. And what he got was EXTREMELY controlled rebuff while receiving ABSOLUTE restraint on Penn’s part. How much they make or their fame doesn’t mean a fart in a hailstorm.

These shits need to have their heads staved in, their cameras busted to bits and pieces, their sycophant cowardly toadies like the one inside the car FILMING THAT (ref. ‘read more’ link) have their fingers busted.  Nothing less is justice served.

Penn did what any rational, self-respecting person SHOULD do: fight.  These photographers are shit on legs.

The grossly overpaid actors and actresses give up their right to privacy in return for fame.

Can’t have it both ways.

Sorry, I quoted poet Tammy Gomez above without attribution.  I heard that poem exactly once at one of her performances at Electric Lounge and the line stuck with me for 14 years:  “manslaughter—man’s laughter in the distance.”

Tammy hope all is well. It’s a been a long time since those Chicago House/Electric Lounge poetry and music daze but when I think of you the first thoughts are always:  Great respect, great poet.

It’s a pity he’s not up on charges of manslaughter—man’s laughter in the distance. 

Sean Penn being photographed perpetually against his will means you will be photographed while taking a dump.

Count on it.