The Devil Made Me Do It!
It appears that some unknown force is loose in the entertainment industries, compelling celebrities such as actor Mel Gibson, comedian Michael Richards, and footballer Michael Vick to say and do things totally alien to their true natures. Or so they would have us believe.
Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, flipped off a male spectator as he was leaving the field of play following the Falcons' 31 - 13 loss to New Orleans. "He just said certain things I won't say in front of this camera," Vick tried to explain at the news conference following the game. The Falcon quarterback went on to further explain: "I just did one thing I've never done through all the games I've ever lost," then he gave the clincher: "I don't know where it came from, but the people who know me know that's not me and that's not my character." (Emphasis added) He might as well have added, "The Devil made me do it!" What did Vick's encounter with the insidious Devil cost? A $10,000 dollar fine, and an apology to the fans.
Michael Richards' tussle with the Devil came during his stand-up routine at a comedy club. During his act, Richards was heckled by several patrons, and in retaliation, he "went into a rage," spewing the word "Nigger" at several black hecklers along with other disparaging epithets at other patrons. No doubt, as he says, Richards was frustrated at the poor audience response to his act, but then he let his "anger and hate and rage" come through. "I took it badly and went into a rage. For me to flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist--that's what' so insane about this." (Emphasis added) Touché, Michael Richards, you have had an encounter with that devilish demon, Satan, who compels the most benign of us to act out of character. Yes, Michael, the Devil made you do it! What has Richards' run-in with Old Scratch cost him? A flurry of apologies to anyone who will listen, a potential lawsuit from two black patrons (encouraged by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred) who were on the receiving end of Richards' outburst. Tell them, Michael, tell them "The Devil made me say it!"
"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true (Emphasis added) and which are despicable." Thus, Mel Gibson tried to explain away his deplorable words uttered in a drunken tirade after his arrest for driving while intoxicated along California highways on a hot summer's evening. Gibson, it seems, assailed the officers who arrested him with a string of anti-Semitic remarks, capped with a remark insinuating that Jews are the cause for all the wars in the world. As do Vick and Richards, Gibson wants to assure us that his fall from grace - temporary though it may be - was not of his making, that it was totally out of character. Under the influence of demon-rum, Mel succumbed to that fiend who seduced even the good Doctor Faust. Yes, Mel fell under the sway of Mephistofeles, who offers us fame, glory and riches for nothing more than our mortal souls. What did this lapse cost Mel? Frantic apologies to any Jew who would listen, a trip to rehab, and free publicity for his film Apocalypto, now in theaters around the country. Go ahead, Mel, say it: "The Devil made me do it!"
Celebrities, like politicians, are a cut above the rest of us. They are not subject to the same rules as the rest of us. They do not fall prey to the same passions as the rest of us. They are, in so many words, God's chosen people. They are the poor man's royalty. Any words and actions that take away from their perceived notions of themselves are not of their voluntary doing. They come from an alien source, not from a wellspring within themselves.
But if we look to as unlikely a candidate as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, we can get a better and truer picture of what lies within the character of Vick, Richards, and Gibson. Chavez appeared before the UN General Assembly and referred to President George W. Bush as a "devil." Did Chavez then add, "The Devil made me say it"? No, he said he was talking from the heart. "The way I called him a devil was not something I had planned, it came from the heart, because for me, it's the truth."
It would be well if our three celebrities were just as honest with themselves and with us.
Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, flipped off a male spectator as he was leaving the field of play following the Falcons' 31 - 13 loss to New Orleans. "He just said certain things I won't say in front of this camera," Vick tried to explain at the news conference following the game. The Falcon quarterback went on to further explain: "I just did one thing I've never done through all the games I've ever lost," then he gave the clincher: "I don't know where it came from, but the people who know me know that's not me and that's not my character." (Emphasis added) He might as well have added, "The Devil made me do it!" What did Vick's encounter with the insidious Devil cost? A $10,000 dollar fine, and an apology to the fans.
Michael Richards' tussle with the Devil came during his stand-up routine at a comedy club. During his act, Richards was heckled by several patrons, and in retaliation, he "went into a rage," spewing the word "Nigger" at several black hecklers along with other disparaging epithets at other patrons. No doubt, as he says, Richards was frustrated at the poor audience response to his act, but then he let his "anger and hate and rage" come through. "I took it badly and went into a rage. For me to flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist--that's what' so insane about this." (Emphasis added) Touché, Michael Richards, you have had an encounter with that devilish demon, Satan, who compels the most benign of us to act out of character. Yes, Michael, the Devil made you do it! What has Richards' run-in with Old Scratch cost him? A flurry of apologies to anyone who will listen, a potential lawsuit from two black patrons (encouraged by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred) who were on the receiving end of Richards' outburst. Tell them, Michael, tell them "The Devil made me say it!"
"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true (Emphasis added) and which are despicable." Thus, Mel Gibson tried to explain away his deplorable words uttered in a drunken tirade after his arrest for driving while intoxicated along California highways on a hot summer's evening. Gibson, it seems, assailed the officers who arrested him with a string of anti-Semitic remarks, capped with a remark insinuating that Jews are the cause for all the wars in the world. As do Vick and Richards, Gibson wants to assure us that his fall from grace - temporary though it may be - was not of his making, that it was totally out of character. Under the influence of demon-rum, Mel succumbed to that fiend who seduced even the good Doctor Faust. Yes, Mel fell under the sway of Mephistofeles, who offers us fame, glory and riches for nothing more than our mortal souls. What did this lapse cost Mel? Frantic apologies to any Jew who would listen, a trip to rehab, and free publicity for his film Apocalypto, now in theaters around the country. Go ahead, Mel, say it: "The Devil made me do it!"
Celebrities, like politicians, are a cut above the rest of us. They are not subject to the same rules as the rest of us. They do not fall prey to the same passions as the rest of us. They are, in so many words, God's chosen people. They are the poor man's royalty. Any words and actions that take away from their perceived notions of themselves are not of their voluntary doing. They come from an alien source, not from a wellspring within themselves.
But if we look to as unlikely a candidate as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, we can get a better and truer picture of what lies within the character of Vick, Richards, and Gibson. Chavez appeared before the UN General Assembly and referred to President George W. Bush as a "devil." Did Chavez then add, "The Devil made me say it"? No, he said he was talking from the heart. "The way I called him a devil was not something I had planned, it came from the heart, because for me, it's the truth."
It would be well if our three celebrities were just as honest with themselves and with us.
posted by wdriver | 1:04 PM
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