With all the celebrities that went last month to the birthday part of the Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, the person who has taken the most flak has been Hilary Swank. First she was criticized and then basically strong armed into donating her huge fee to charity. She did so and is upset at all the criticism and having to give money back so she did what any Hollywood celebrity would do in the same situation, she fired everyone around her. Far be it from Hilary to actually Google anyone, she blames her agents and her manager of ten years. The only entity she did not fire was her actual agency because then the agency might push back and fire her boyfriend.
It is interesting that as much as she was quick to give her fees back and has been criticized for her participation, Seal could give a crap what any of us think and was happy to do honor the dictator; happy to keep the fee, and has no plans for ever giving it away. "You sit there under the umbrella of democracy and never once stop to think how it keeps you dry." Yeah, I don't know what Seal was saying either, but, how can you argue with someone if you don't know what he is saying. Besides, with the way his career is going, he needs every fee he can get.
Hilary Swank should've stuck to her guns. Everyone knows that celebrity accept millions of dollars for appearing in parties abroad, whether they be birthdays for the King of Bindi, or some rich oil Arab family, or in this case, a dictator. The difference now, is that it's showing on the internet, and everybody is having an opinion on how you should earn your money. You have a few choices if you want to make silent millions:
ReplyDelete1- Go the Clooney and Pitt way, and sell yourself for cheesy Asian commercials (no offense to the Asians, but a lot of the commercials are cheesy, yet funny), they pay millions too, and no one gets hurt
2- Go the Seal way, yeah he got paid to appear at a dictator's party, and no one has a saying on how he manages his business.
Firing everyone in your management team because you've opted to accept an offer for a douchebag's party, instead of taking a paying acting job, makes her look even more shallow, and dubious in her trade.
Too bad, liked her as an actress.
So she fired her boyfriend? Cold.
ReplyDelete@Rose - No, she fired everyone but her boyfriend. And she can't sue the agency he works with, and represents her, for they will in turn fire him. That's why she's being criticized, you'd think the first one to be blamed (after herself of course) would be the agent who pushed her into it for $1.5M: her boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteSeal's career isn't going well? I wonder why not? I love his voice and music.
ReplyDeleteWho would honestly want HILARY SWANK to attend a party, anyway?
ReplyDeleteBeyonce? Yeah. I get that. I'm sure every evil dictator worldwide has a picture of her, swathed in furs and her latest weave, hanging on his bedroom wall.
But Hilary SWANK? Her appeal to *anyone* is a total mystery.
I applaud them both. Seal is probably more deeply involved in his own affairs and was more knowledgeable of the situation. And I love his comment too. What is there not to understand?
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me Hilary trusted her people, who turned out to be not trustworthy. Why not fire them? I would have done the same if I felt the way she does. I'm not giving my money to someone who screws up like that. And why would I pay someone to do a job that I have to go back behind them to be sure they did it right? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Good for her.
She should have fired her boyfriend, she hasn't done anything good since taking up with him....
ReplyDeletei'm pretty sure Swank didn't even know who was the guy
ReplyDeleteas I read on deadline the manager really got the shaft on this. It seems her lawyer brokered the deal and mislead the manager. The manager put out the press release she wasn't attending based on what her lawyer told her.
ReplyDeleteI really wonder about that donating back. I would like to hear which charities actually got it and confirm the funds vs. just putting it out there you are doing it (and don't).
What is there n ot to understand about Seal's comment? Makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteSeal's comment makes sense. We enjoy democracy, but how often do we stop to think about what goes into making that happen? It goes beyond the Declaration of Independence or any country's documents. It can get ugly.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for Hilary in that she's the one taking nearly all the heat for attending the party, though several celebs went. Then again, that comes from being a two-time Oscar winner. She likely was the most decorated public figure there.
Hilary should have been more aware of what she was getting into. But at the same time, her managers/lawyers/agents are paid to handle this sort of stuff. Obviously, they didn't.
how many american indians did we kill to get democracy. Japanese interment camps. The only country to drop nuclear bombs on another country.
ReplyDeleteAmerica isn't as innocent as we would like to think we are.
I think that was what Seal is talking about. But he isn't exactly an American. But F him for taking a paycheck over what is right.
totally agree with seal.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Timebob.
ReplyDeleteand let's not forget how much we meddled in central and south america in the '70s and '80s....
ReplyDeletenot hard to understand seal's quote. it's just a little difficult to understand his justification of his actions. but then again, wallis simpson and edward met with hitler and they are style icons to this day.....
I just don't understand why someone making millions for doing a movie or recording a song needs to pimp themselves out for parties? Especially for rich assholes. There really isn't enough in the world for greed. I'm on one today - I guess I'm a witch for Halloween. At least I can use that excuse this one day a year.
ReplyDelete"You sit there under the umbrella of democracy and never once stop to think how it keeps you dry."
ReplyDelete"So my solution to that is to go and accept millions from a dictator with a sketchy human rights record because I don't give a shit and that's how you stay dry under the umbrella of democracy!"
O_O
I understand what he was trying to say but all he did was deflect attention off his own actions by being a condescending, ignorant asshole. If he doesn't care what people think of his actions, fine, but don't try to sound all high and mighty and pretend that attending this party was some sort of moral and enlightened decision on your part. You're a greedy bastard who wanted money and didn't care how he got it. Just say THAT, Seal. It would still mean you're an asshole but at least you'd be an HONEST asshole.
Hilary was told all about the guy before she went to the party. This is 100% on her. And Seal can go fuck himself. The fact that our ancestors did evil things that led to our current prosperity doesn't make those things any less evil, or give us the right to do the same.
ReplyDelete(This is the kind of attitude that got the world into the shitty state it's in now - "To hell with everyone else as long as I get mine.")
ReplyDeleteMooshki, I don't know that Seal was thinking that far back. One really doesn't have to. There are plenty of actions in the last 20 years that can qualify his statement.
ReplyDeleteMoosh and TimBob ALL THE WAY!
ReplyDeletePreach it~
Bubbles, yeah, I was thinking of the founders of Democracy, but there are plenty of modern scumsuckers too. In fact, I seem to remember hearing something about a series of protests going on against them. ;)
ReplyDeleteSeal is an asshat. I as an American citizen have little say in what my govt REALLY does. Trust me I try. I vote. I call and write my officals when I think they are full of it. I even got called stupid by one when I protested in writing the big business bailout and allowing CEO's to get a bonus for poor preformance. Seal KNOWINGLY went and supported a dictator with sketchy human rights issues. Keep singing that one note opera, Seal. The thing you can kiss isn't a rose on the grave.
ReplyDeleteHilary doesn't strike me as the sharpest tool in the shed. She kind of HAD to give the fee away but I don't buy that she didn't know the background on this guy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think it's unfair that Hilary is getting the most flack for this, when other celebs attended.