Russell Brand has foolishly been arrested for pushing a paparazzi. A citizen’s arrest was performed on him and he now needs to pay bail of $20,000. Was he right or wrong? Well before we wade in with our views, here’s the footage:
Imagine you were walking with your girlfriend and a group get up in your face with a camera, block your way, surround you and shout your name. It’s a bit beyond mild intimidation, and in the moment you can surely be excused for lashing out. Now…what if you’re used to this same group lying in the gutter waiting for your girlfriend to get out of cars so they can flog pictures of her knickers? Maybe you might resent this type of person a little more.
However, time and again the behaviour of the paps is excused for one reason, namely that they do it to celebs who somehow brought this on themselves. We see a bit of logic in saying that this kind of overbearing attention goes hand in hand with his job – but saying Russell is a celeb leads to another point, namely that Russell does put up with this all the time. He is constantly having this aggressive behaviour thrust upon him, and doesn’t lash out. The video we see above could just be the last straw, there could have been something in the lead up we do not see in the small clip or it could just be that he’s in a bad mood, as we all are sometimes and he’s decided he isn’t going to take that shit on this particular day.
Yes, they put themselves in the public spotlight, but Russell and Katy do so in a professional capacity. Of course the public want to know more about them and certain privacy will be lost, but surely pictures can be taken in a less aggressive way without invading their space. What is more, if they want to be off limits at times there is no pressing reason for them to not be allowed to shy away from the camera. What the public are interested in does not necessarily become a matter “in the public interest” – a banner which is used to justify so many aggressive journalistic practices.
Katy and Russell have given open access to their relationship and as far as we have seen they have not used it as a media platform to further their careers. If this were so we might follow these arguments a bit more.
Lastly, the paps clearly look for this kind of reaction. Russell and Katy entering an airport is a ten a penny picture…seeing him push a journalist is worth something. The over the top imposition of a citizen’s arrest for what was barely a light push hints that perhaps someone realised they had hit the jackpot with this.
The paparazzi get away with this sort of behaviour because they are the ones who report what goes on in these situations – they hold the camera. When someone reacts in the way they want, they go crying from the rooftops.
Katy put this out on Twitter: ‘If you cross the line and try and put a lens up my dress, my fiance will do his job and protect me.’ Now we can’t see that in this video – but a quick Google search will show you this has happened in the past and it’s by no means clear it didn’t here (or at least they thought it was about to).
Now be honest – who would like to have seen him push the pap a bit harder?
Picture courtesy of Lightningfields
Belinda
September 21, 2010
Agreed