Gawking and stalking
Emily Gould was on a recent episode of ‘Larry King Live’ to speak about Gawker, the Web site she co-edits. When guest host Jimmy Kimmel went on the attack about the site, she claims she was shocked (how long has she been in the paparazzi business?!). As you can see in the clip she rolls her eyes, however in a very forced manner. Yesterday she wrote an opinion piece in the NY Times. It really doesn’t add much to the original clip. Below are some excerpts:
“It’s hard to believe that Mr. Kimmel, a late-night talk show host who has made on-air inebriation a cornerstone of his public image, was truly upset that people knew he’d gone out drinking. So what was he really angry about?”
For some reason Emily can’t understand why someone would be upset about an untrue story (Kimmel claims), let alone one entitled “When Isn’t Jimmy Kimmel Visibly Intoxicated?” She also can’t distinguish between an on-air persona and real life.
“Gawker Stalker Map, a regular feature that displays brief, user-generated celebrity sightings on a map of Manhattan.”
I can imagine a number of people, crazy and relatively normal, using this map to try to see a celeb.
“Since the sightings aren’t posted in anything like real time, it would be a ludicrously ineffective tool for “real” stalkers.”
I strongly disagree. Many of these posts happen in stores or restaurants that stars may frequent on a daily basis. As admitted in the interview, some sightings are online within minutes-while dinner, a movie or other outing can last hours at one location.
Of course gawker.com can post whatever they please, but they shouldn’t be surprised when lawsuits start rolling in. Hopefully they just stay in the realm of slander…
link (via boingboing)