You might notice the stories are overwhelmingly political for this addition. We apologize but a goal of this column is to feature stories (that we may or may not cover) yet appear addressed in multiple places in the media. In this way we throw the net out wide, and pull in much of whatever appears to be reported about Hollywood or entertainment internationally. Frequently we have to neglect articles that are the output of successful PR firms that are essentially self-promotion and aren’t news at all. To avoid these articles we may veer on the idiosyncratic yet the topics still have wide market appeal. Addressing the Olympics, the media specifically, and attempts to highlight the way Hollywood is implicated in the general American election, we have unearthed a range of political discussions that define last week in the entertainment industry.
Essential Stories:
- African Village Closed
- Fareed Zakaria Suspended by CNN
- Hollywood Leftist Elites Disclosed
African Village Closed
Because the media broadcast London Olympics comes to all of us by way of the international media it easily merits the attention of this web site. And though the athletic spectacle has weathered many criticisms by foreign politicians as well as local ticket buyers, there’s reason to believe London might gain from criticism pertaining to the hospitality it grants its guests. You might have heard on MSN, or from headlines like those of the Walesonline that:
“The African hospitality centre for the Olympics has closed, it has been confirmed…”
“…………..It was one of a host of hospitality sites around London set up for various countries during the Games. It has closed due to mounting debts owed to suppliers, according to the BBC [1].”
As disconcerting as this news may have been there’s a fundamental problem in this report that needs to be highlighted. The Olympic organizing committee neglected to create an environment that valued athletic excellence over trivial differences in culture, politics, and economics that frequently divide us an international community. The historic Olympic committee has overcome the hatred of Nazi Germany, survived the terrorist brutality visited upon the Munich ceremony and has endured regardless of many boycott defined participant omissions that have plagued the competitions over its history. Like all of these competition distractions, the committee should have absorbed economic disadvantage early as well. Why? The Olympics absorbs so many of the world’s national inconsistencies. We ignore the United States United Nations debt and trade deficit. We ignore China’s horrendous human rights record despite their power status in economics. We accept patterns of sexism perpetrated at an almost international level in the Middle East. Oddly Africa’s wealthiest countries Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, etc. are not it’s best Olympic competitors [2]. Accept for countries like Botswana and South Africa, countries like; Ethiopia, Kenya, Algeria, etc. compete at the Gold level yet they barely have the financial means to be in the competition [3]. As celebrity Bono might have suggested and further stepping away from it’s colonial past, London should have figured out a way to forgive Africa’s economic inconsistencies and move on with it.
Fareed Zakaria Suspended by CNN
Reported by Deadline, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter, noted Sunday morning talk show host and journalist of “CNN: GPS” (with Fareed Zakaria) was suspended due to accusations of plagiarism. Large parts of a Time Magazine article about Gun control” were unattributed yet were still lifted from a New Yorker article of the same topic. CNN like Time, are both owned by Time Warner who claimed the journalist and article “violates our own standards for our columnists [4].”
Suspended for a month; the penalty should subside unless other infractions should be become evident due to an ongoing investigation.
Hollywood Leftist Elites Disclosed
The Conservative Activist group Grassfire Nation has named and distributed the phone numbers of Hollywood celebrities Bill Maher, Morgan Freeman, Jeffery Katzenberg, Stephen Spielberg, and J.J. Abrams claiming they are contributors to the Pro Obama SuperPAC ad. Reported by the Hollywood Reporter and concurred by the Wrap claimed:
“The group published phone numbers that connect callers to the talent and management agencies that represent the men.
The subject line of the email read: “Stop the Obama team ‘death ad’ funded by leftist elites.”
“Grassfire Nation is launching this CITIZEN NOTICE calling on leftist elites to cease and desist this despicable ad,” the group said on its website. “These notices will be sent directly to Priorities USA as well as Maher, Freeman, Katzenberg, Spielberg and Abrams — because their money funded this deplorable campaign [5].”
Featuring a poll on their website, Grassfire asked the public to use the published numbers to respond in this way: “Demand they use their influence to get this ad pulled with apologies!”
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Necessary references:
[3] http://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/africaolympics.htm
comicreleaf
comicrelief2
Comic Relief
parisienne
littlebells
Lurker
ozzie20
Open Book
LIH
linkedinhollywood.com 
For the many who like Mr. Zakaria, I hope this investigation ends soon.