probama vs antibama
Not since Donald Sutherland unleashed a spittle-flecked torrent of anti-Hillarian propaganda in The Huffington Post—denouncing the candidate's "wretched illegitimacy," as if she had ruined Canadian Thanksgiving by pulling off a rubber Kiefer mask to reveal her cackling identity beneath—have we been so shaken by a celebrity-penned attack on a Democratic candidate: National Treasure: Book of Secrets star/estranged grandfather Jon Voight has dared to zig when the Obama-loving free world zags in the op-ed pages of the Washington Times:
The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. [...]
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Blogging on the election (presidential, not
Idol) for the Huffington Post, Larry David admits he's lost a bit of confidence in the increasingly histrionic Hillary Clinton: "There have been times in this campaign when she seemed so unhinged that I worried she'd actually kill herself if she lost...I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere." We're looking forward to
Jerry Seinfeld's own op-ed on the race, in which he asks, "What is
with this Hillary Rodham Clinton? The woman's totally a woodwork wacko! And she's a three-name woman...and many of the three-named people do become assassins." [
HuffPo]
Having long ago elected Barack Obama the President of Hollywood, how will the industry react to Hillary Clinton's win in California's Democratic primary? Disappointed kingmaker David Geffen, despite having prematurely predicted victory for Obama, is not yet abandoning ship, even if DreamWorks partner Steven Spielberg is stubbornly sticking out a passionless political marriage with Clinton. Indeed, maybe it's time Geffen starts thinking about his next move, like sitting down with Maureen Dowd for
another one of those fun interviews before all of his friends start getting crazy ideas about jumping on the Hillary bandwagon. [
Slate]
Roseanne Barr blogs her take on Oprah and Barack Obama: "barak [sic] obama is an empty suit selling 'hope' in lieu of Truth. He has no ideas, no plan and nothing to add other than the cynical pacification of the masses with bedtime stories about hope, while calling Unions 'special interest groups' that need to be done away with...Oprah, you play the race card and the gender card too. You are a closeted republican and chose Barak Obama because you do not like other women who actually stand for something to working American Women besides glamour, angels, hollywood and dieting! It is historical that Oprah Winfrey, beloved of women, chooses a flashy man with small credentials over a seasoned woman politician with 35 years of experience...and sells that to the female demographic who look to her for inspiration!" [
roseanneworld.com]
obamamania
For anyone with even a remotely legitimate interest in yesterday's historic Iowa caucus, we refer you to our Beltway brothers' coverage over at Wonkette. We, on the other hand, are purely fixated on how the celebrity factor figures into Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee being handed such landslide mandates for change from voters in the corn-shucking state. Huckabee's acceptance speech—capped by a funky improvisational jazz bass performance loosely inspired by the Barney Miller theme—was greeted by longtime kung-fu sparring companion Chuck Norris, hovering over his shoulder with the kind of warmly proud look one typically associates with future First Ladies. The Democratic side, meanwhile, benefited from a far bustier and less hirsute celebrity endorsement:
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While high-profile Barack Obama supporters like George Clooney
have publicly fretted about how too many showbiz endorsements might taint their candidate in the heartland and offered to support him from a safe distance, new Obamamania cheerleader Scarlett Johansson threw such caution to the wind yesterday, delivering a fifteen minute (!) speech in Iowa that removed all doubt about which Democratic candidate has the support of Hollywood's bustiest, most politically active ingenues. [
Open All Night Via
Jezebel]
trade roundup
· Oprah Winfrey delivers an impassioned, 20-minute stump speech in Des Moines on behalf of Barack Obama, whose presidential candidacy was officially designated as one of her Favorite Things of 2007. In addition to the inspiration they received, each one of the thousands of Iowans in attendance at the rally left with his or her own copy of O's Guide to Life and a dozen Perfect Endings cupcakes. [Variety]
· VH1 greenlights eight episodes of Viva Hollywood!, its Top Modelesque talent search for Telemundo's next big telenovela star. There's also a $100,000 prize to cushion the blow when the competition's winner fails to capitalize on the big break and returns to his or her bartending job. [THR]
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obamamania
With Oprah Approved™ presidential hopeful Barack Obama trailing to Hillary Clinton, it would seem the voiced support of Angelina Jolie's do-gooding wingman—rounding out a megastar hat-trick that already includes George Clooney and Matt Damon—would be precisely what the candidate needs to get ahead in the polls. However, fearing heartland voters might be turned off by the endorsement of someone perceived as an overly privileged and left-leaning actor who's "all shacked-up with that vampire lady and her 14 colored kids," Obama's campaign has kindly declined Brad Pitt's generous offer:
When the socially conscious star offered to help the Democratic contender's presidential campaign, he was turned down, our sources report.
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According to third-quarter donation reports, Hollywood is still lavishing cash at presidential hopeful Barack Obama, the candidate Oprah Winfrey
recently dipped in honey, heaved into the money pile her friends built at her Montecito compound, and allowed to walk off with the three million dollars in donations that clung to his sticky, glistening form. But we suspect that most of those fickle little political starfuckers will be cured of their Obamamania and climb into Al Gore's hybrid bandwagon the minute the Oscar/Emmy/Nobel triple-threat announces he's running. [
HuffPo]
trade roundup
· While it seemed that Steven Spielberg had ended the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton, an undeterred Barack Obama has gone above the Hollywood kingmaker's head by getting Oprah Winfrey, the beneficent daytime TV deity Herself, to host a fundraiser for him at her Montecito compound. An expected $14 billion will be raised for the Obama campaign in a single night when Winfrey commands the heavens to open up and shower bundles of hundred-dollar bills upon her chosen candidate. [Variety]
· In the short term, the stockpiling of projects in anticipation of a multi-union strike may increase the number of entertainment industry jobs, but overall, the threat of a walkout could cause an employment slowdown whether or not the guilds and producers usher in the End of Hollywood Days with a prolonged work stoppage. [THR]
· CBS sets its fall schedule, but will hold risky musical drama Viva Laughlin until October 21 in order to buy more time to figure out how the hell to market the show to inevitably confused audiences. [Variety]
· Despite having his TV show let go to make more room on the schedule for caveman-related programming, George Lopez doesn't seem to be having too much trouble finding movie work. [THR]
· Beleaguered Fox/Spielberg collaboration On The Lot now only being watched by accident. [Variety]
coronations
Dealing a death blow to
once-trendy Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's chances of landing the crucial entertainment industry endorsement that spurred Presidents Gore and Kerry on to historic White House tenures, show business deity Steven Spielberg
has officially anointed Hillary Clinton Hollywood's Savior, releasing a statement today indicating he's "convinced that [she] is the most qualified candidate to lead us."
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ain't no party like a hillhaven party
The battle for the entertainment industry's hearts, minds, and huge, filthy piles of cash raged on at the home of noted local political hacktivist Brett Ratner, who on Wednesday night generously hosted a campaign fundraiser for Democratic presidential hopeful
Hillary Clinton. At the event, a mere $250 donation afforded Young Hollywood a rare chance to get close enough to the candidate to discuss matters of policy while gyrating to the strains of "It Takes Two" at Hillhaven Lodge's in-house disco, and an upgrade to the VIP level of patronage bought each Clinton supporter 90 seconds of face-to-face time with the senator in
Ratner's famous photo booth.
Var recaps the party,
including an obligatory roll call of attendees:
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obamamania
Hoping to reach the next generation of politically minded entertainment industry influencers who one day might achieve enough success to throw him
lavish, billionaire-courting fund-raisers at their Carbon Beach compounds and
kneecap his rivals in the pages of the
NY Times, the Obamamania Campaign Hummer pulled up to the valet stand at
Boulevard3 on Saturday night, an attempt to reach Hollywood up-and-comers in the environment in which they're most comfortable: a club the
LAT describes as a "one-stop shop for conspicuous nightlife consumption.
Variety reports on the scene at Barack Obama's
weekend trip to Sunset Boulevard:
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politics
When George Clooney isn't busy
hunting for the real leaker of the
Huckabees videos or developing socially conscious movie projects to assuage the guilt induced by all the fun he's having placing Saran Wrap over the toilet bowl in Brad Pitt's double wide (Brad
always falls for that one!) on the set of
Ocean's 13, the committed actorvist spends time fretting about whether or not it's a prudent idea to publicly repress his intense feelings for Democratic Presidential mancrush
Barack Obama for the good of his campaign. In discussing his acute case of Obamamania in today's
LAT, Clooney notes the delicate balance between using celebrity to raise a politician's profile and tainting him with the perceived Gay Satanism of "Hollywood values" that
Middle America so thoroughly fears:
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obamamania
It seems that whatever evil rainmaking ritual Hillary Clinton participated in during
her recent trip to the CAA Death Star (human sacrifice was presumably involved, as we're hearing reports they're still trying to power-wash the blood off Bryan Lourd's office walls) paid off handsomely, as the skies above billionaire Democratic cheerleader Ron Burkle's compound opened on Saturday night and showered the N.Y. senator's campaign with
a possible showbiz record $2.6 million in donations, according to Clinton fundraising group Let's Not Throw That Hollywood Victory Party Just Yet, Mr. Popular. The gauntlet has clearly been thrown at the feet of Chief
Obamamania Entertainment Industry Strategist David Geffen, who's faced with the difficult decision of whether to
throw another beach party for his political king, schedule
a new interview session with Maureen Dowd in which he shockingly reveals that he once saw Hillary kill a drifter with her bare hands (a crime her philandering husband assisted in covering up), or have troublemaking rival Burkle disappeared, hoping to cut off a source of future funds.
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hillary clinton
By now, everyone's aware of
the shocking attacks DreamWorks mogul and Democratic primary fixer David Geffen made yesterday on Hillary Clinton, her intern-despoiling husband, the White House's substandard lodgings for billionaire rainmakers, and all that is good and holy about civilized political campaigning in an attempt to demonstrate that all of Hollywood has fallen prone at the feet of Barack Obama, ready to do the Chosen One's bidding. Now that most of the
factually inaccurate, post-attack bickering has been dispensed with, Team Hillary is regrouping today, ready to launch a Hollywood counteroffensive that includes trips to fundraisers hosted by her own stable of local billionaires, and, ominously, a trip to the CAA Death Star.
Says Var:
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Defamer
