This is a kind of bizarre political crossover story that we debated whether to cover. Actress Susan Sarandon, 65, is involved in activist causes in her native NY City and often speaks at protests and events around the US. I googled “Susan Sarandon protest Youtube” and found videos of her at Occupy Wall St, and in Madison, WI during the union busting protests in 2011. She’s also been an outspoken anti-war advocate, and made appearances at protests both before and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The first thing that came to mind when I heard this story, though, is the speech that Susan and her then longterm-partner, Tim Robbins, made at the 1993 Oscars about the plight of HIV-positive Haitian refugees in America. (I couldn’t find video of that, let me know if you can find it.) Word was that they were banned from the Oscars after that, but Susan of course won Best Actress in 1996 for Dead Man Walking. She didn’t mention anything political in her acceptance speech at that time, and Tim was there in the audience.

In a new interview with documentarian activist Michael Moore, Susan claims that she was denied security clearance recently to visit the White House, and that her phone is being tapped. (Sidenote: Remember Moore’s 2003 Oscar acceptance speech against Bush?)

Controversial activist and actress Susan Sarandon has never kept her opinions to herself, and she is now claiming that her outspoken political opinions have made her a security risk.

“I’ve gotten my (FBI) file twice,” the liberal activist revealed during a Q&A session with filmmaker Michael Moore at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, reported the Los Angeles Times.

“I know my phone was tapped. If they’re not surveilling you then everyone else has cameras on phones.” She added, “I was denied security clearance to go to the White House [next week], and I don’t know why.”

Moore responded by saying: “I never think about it. It would unwind me. I assume everything I’m saying in an email or saying on the telephone is being looked at,” he added.

The Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story documentary maker also revealed that he thought the phone-tapping scandal that rocked Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corp in the UK, could happen in America.

“I’m interested to see what happens with Fox News and phone hacking,” said Moore. “I really can’t believe it just happens in Great Britain. Because really, who cares about just hacking phones over there?

“I’ll make a prediction about something — I think the phone-hacking thing Murdoch is involved in … is going to be investigated, and it will be found that it’s been going on here too. I just have a gut feeling.”

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Sarandon outraged the Catholic Church recently when she referred to Pope Benedict XVI as a “Nazi” during an interview last October.

[From Radar Online]

Again, we really didn’t want to touch this story. I do want to say that I think Susan is wrong about any scandal occurring this side of the pond due to phone tapping. If she’s right that her phone is under surveillance and it’s a government entity doing it, that’s pretty much legal under the Patriot Act. If The National Enquirer or Star is hacking her phone, then we might get an investigation.

Note by Kaiser: I think CB is right, in that it’s perfectly possible (and “legal”) that a government agency could be tapping Susan’s phone (or anyone else’s). But I think the discussion about Murdoch and the phone hacking in the UK is related to that in an unexpected way – did anyone watch the Frontline episode devoted to the hacking scandal? What surprised me most was the British government’s complicity in the press’s hacking of public figures. That’s one of the reasons that it took the New York Times (working with The Guardian) to break the story internationally – because the British government was stonewalling just as much as Murdoch’s people were. What the UK hacking scandal showed me was that an ultra-right-wing press operation can work concurrently with a government when they share common interests.

Susan is shown on 4-2, 4-18 and 4-22-12, credit: WENN.com

Several celebrities have visited the protesters at the Occupy Wall Street gatherings throughout the world, including Tim Robbins, Penn Badgley, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and Rachel McAdams. Many outlets have pointed out that celebrities are wealthy beyond most of our wildest dreams and are in no way part of the “99 percent” that OWS claims to represent. A lot of them are known activists, though, and it makes sense that they would lend their celebrity to a cause. Kanye West, not so much unless you count rallying against anyone who questions him. Kanye paid a visit to OWS, and he did it with his unique sense of defensive all-caps irony. He went down there in a getup worth $30,000, and that’s not counting his diamond teeth. I would say that $30k is more than most of those kids see in a year, but that’s not really accurate. Here’s more:

Kanye’s $30,000 protest outfit. If Kanye West visited Occupy Wall Street to protest corporate greed, he shouldn’t have worn a $355 Givenchy plaid shirt over an $82 Alexander Wang tee, $890 Balmain jeans, a $5,575 Love bracelet and a $23,500 Rolex watch. And to think, this was Kanye’s idea of “casual day!”

[From In Touch, print edition, October 31, 2011]

I would have given Kanye a pass if his outfit was worth say $3,000. That’s outrageous but it’s just your average really expensive outfit, with one of those high end watches that is ridiculously expensive instead of batsh*t insane expensive. Instead he wore a watch worth more than any car I’ve ever owned. (I buy used.) He also piled on the gold jewelry without even thinking twice about whether it was tasteless or not. What is the need for crap that costs this much? I guess if people will buy it, they’ll make it. It kind of proves the protesters’ point.

Oh and Kim Kardashian almost said “let them eat cake” in regard to the protestors, but she was merely observing that they were being served really decent dessert. “Inside Edition” had a segment a couple of nights ago about the chef who has been serving gourmet meals to 1,000 down at OWS every night. In this article about it in the NY Post they make it sound like the protesters are living high on the hog since they’re being given five star meals. It’s not like they’re demanding it. People are volunteering their time to help feed them, and for a long time they were getting free pizzas from well wishers around the world.

photo credit: Fame

Oh, Sean Penn. I can remember a time when I overlooked your douchey qualities long enough to find you hot. You used to smolder with intensity, you used to smirk, and I found it winning. Not so much anymore. Now, when I look at you, all I see is a once-great actor whose personal life and public statements make it impossible for me to even think one nice thought.

So Sean Penn put away his firearms for two seconds after the Haiti earthquake and took some time out of his busy schedule of bangin’ models, and he brought 11 doctors down to Haiti and helped set up a medical aid center for the thousands of injured Haitians. Good deed, right? Of course. But then Sean has to ruin it with his douche. Sidenote: I said he put away the firearms, but I’m now rethinking that. He could have been ammo’d up in Haiti. But I digress… so, Sean, douche, mouthing off. Here you go:

Sean Penn is slamming cynics who have criticized his recent trip to Haiti.

In January, the actor, 49, brought 11 doctors to the earthquake-hit nation, where he also helped establish a private Haitian relief organization. But some have argued that celebs like Penn should stay out of aid efforts, insisting that stars use tragedy merely to rebuild their public image (Penn recently went through a divorce with actress Robin Wright).

Critics also say that stars’ efforts are hypocritical: They complain about the injustice of others, critics say, only to return to their holiday homes and lavish lifestyles.

But in an interview this weekend on CBS News’ Sunday Morning, Penn says he ignores the negative chatter.

“I guess I’ve been so away from it all– and our tent camp in Haiti that I haven’t had an awful lot of time to pay attention to them,” he says. “You know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah. You know, but I’m not going to spend a lot of energy on it.”

He said he even plans to get his two children – Hopper Jack, 16 and Dylan, 18 – involved.

“Oh, they’re gonna help,” he says, adding that they even visited Haiti with him. “I think that they’ve had the experience, as I have, that the first person served by service is the server. You know, there’s nobody in the world that isn’t looking for a kind of purpose in life, and tangible purpose is the most immediately recognizable. You know, there’s no time that you’re over there, there’s not something to do to lend a hand.”

Penn says the more than $1 million he brought to Haiti with the help of his friend, businesswoman Diana Jenkins, has been a big help.

“We were able to get X-ray machines, and ventilators, and do all kinds of things,” he says, adding that they literally took suitcases of cash to Haiti.

“We don’t do that anymore,” he says of lugging money around. “We now have a bank account, so– so no one comes up for cash on the ground in Haiti.”

[From Us Weekly]

If only he could handle criticism with some grace, this would be a completely nice and positive story. I admire celebrities (and everyday people) who put their money and time and effort where their mouth is, and I like that Sean went to Haiti and did the work. What I don’t like is that whenever some a-hole says one negative thing (and there will always be some a-hole who has to say something), Sean gets his panties in a bunch and farts out “You know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah. You know, but I’m not going to spend a lot of energy on it.” And that becomes the sound byte! That’s what everyone will use as their headline – much like I’m doing. Instead of just saying the second sentence – “I’m not going to spend a lot of energy on it” – Sean is actually sabotaging the issue he cares about! Ugh.

Jessica Alba was involved in a head-scratching incident of guerrilla activism in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma last week. Alba somehow met up with an activist named White Mike, who tries to bring awareness to the issue of illegal shark fin hunting, which is wiping out the population of great white sharks. The huge predator is a key part of the oceans’ ecosystems and if the great white shark population is diminished the rest of the oceans, and the planet, will suffer. Alba tried to make this point with White Mike in landlocked Oklahoma City by pasting posters of the menacing-looking sharks on public property and on a billboard for the United Way. The shark posters had no text and could have been advertisements for a film or aquarium. They were pasted on with industrial glue that made the confusing posters hard to remove.

Alba issued an apology after pictures surfaced featuring her posing triumphantly by the posters, and stated in part that she “made a spontaneous and ill-advised decision to let myself get involved with the people behind this campaign.” The police in Oklahoma city said at the time that an investigation was underway, but they announced yesterday that it has been dropped and that no charges will be filed:

Jessica Alba will not face any criminal charges for plastering shark posters all over Oklahoma City on behalf of a conservation group.

“The decision has been made to close the case,” police Sgt. Gary Knight says in a statement. “The case will not be presented to the district attorney’s office.”

Alba found herself in hot water last week when photos surfaced of her papering over a United Way billboard as part of a guerrilla-style campaign for White Mike, an L.A.-based group aiming to raise awareness of the endangered great white shark. She quickly apologized for the “spontaneous and ill-advised stunt.”

The 28-year-old Fantastic Four star could have faced a felony vandalism charge and possible jail time over the incident, but the property owners targeted by Alba and pals declined to press charges. As a result, Knight says there’s no reason to pursue the case.

There has been no comment from Alba’s camp on whether she will pay for the damages.

[From E! Online]

That last sentence is key: “There has been no comment from Alba’s camp on whether she will pay for the damages.” If Alba really wants to make it up to Oklahoma City, she’ll compensate them for having to clean up the posters. It probably would have happened without her involvement, as White Mike has pasted posters in other cities. She brought awareness to it though and it would be wise to make a gesture to show that defacing public property is not acceptable. She could also lend her celebrity to a campaign for the United Way. Maybe she just wants this embarrassing incident to go away, though. The OK City police probably feel the same.

Jessica Alba and her daughter Honor, 1, are shown at LAX on 6/6/09.

Jessica Alba has issued a public statement apologizing for a bizarre act of guerrilla activism in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she is filming the thriller The Killer Inside Me. Alba used industrial glue to paste posters of great white sharks around downtown Oklahoma City. She then posed for photos standing next to the confusing posters, which were just pictures of scary looking sharks with no message.

Apparently she was trying to help promote shark conservatism in land-locked Oklahoma, which has no great white sharks in any of their aquariums that I could find. Alba’s apology explains that she didn’t think things through and “got involved in something I should have had no part of.”

A red-faced Jessica Alba is apologizing for plastering shark-conservation posters around Oklahoma City – a stunt that sparked a police investigation.

“I got involved in something I should have had no part of,” the “Fantastic Four” actress said in a statement Tuesday.

“I realize that I should have used better judgment and I regret not thinking things through before I made a spontaneous and ill-advised decision to let myself get involved with the people behind this campaign.”
Her mea culpa came after police opened a probe into the giant shark posters and online photos that showed Alba with buckets of glue at the vandalism sites.

“A number of shark posters were placed around downtown with heavy-duty glue, making them darn near impossible to get off,” Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police told the Daily News on Tuesday.

“It’s basically a vandalism case that could involve our new tagger laws,” he said. “It will be assigned to a detective, and then we’d send it to the District Attorney’s office.”

Knight said the 3-by-2-foot posters of great white sharks were slapped on a bridge, electrical boxes and on a United Way billboard.

He didn’t to identify Alba by name, but a police report clearly describes the photos of Alba that later appeared on a blog for the conservation group White Mike.

A city worker found the group online, and a local news Web site called TheLostOgle.com posted the Alba photos Monday. The photos then disappeared from the White Mike blog.

[From NY Daily News]

Here’s what I think happened – Alba was bored hanging out in Oklahoma city, and met some hot activist guys who convinced her to help them and pose next to the posters while they took her picture. It looks like she got a huge thrill out of it and didn’t realize what the hell she was doing. TMZ has more of her statement, and she added “I sincerely apologize to the citizens of Oklahoma City and to the United Way for my involvement in this incident.” (One of the shark posters was pasted over a United Way advertisement.)

I looked up the guy White Mike who seems to have met up with Alba in Oklahoma City, and he’s been involvedin similar campaigns in Washington, DC and Los Angeles. He says he chose Oklahoma City because “illegal shark fin hunting effects the people of Oklahoma. It affects us all… By some estimates, over 90% of the shark population has been lost in the last 30 years… There is a dire need for us as a human race to try and stop the devastation of the Great White Shark. International pressure is the only way to do it and that starts in Oklahoma, the heartland of America.” It looks like he just got much more attention for his cause, thanks to Jessica Alba not thinking things through.

Photo Credit: The Lost Ogle via D-Listed

Last night, “The View” co-host Joy Behar subbed for Larry King on his “Larry King Live” show on CNN. Joy’s topic for the night was domestic abuse- a reaction, no doubt, to the Rihanna/Chris Brown story. Behar welcomed two guests who know a thing or two about the topic: actress Robin Givens, ex-wife of boxer Mike Tyson, and Denise Brown, sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson. Givens is now the spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and spoke about the violence she suffered while married to the fallen heavyweight champ. She said she identifies with Rihanna’s situation of being involved with a famous, powerful man who hurts her.

The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity:

Guest host Joy Behar: In a “Larry King Live” exclusive, Robin Givens and Denise Brown sound the warning to one quarter of all women who will be kicked, punched, raped, even killed by partners in their life times. …

We’re talking about Rihanna and Chris Brown and the allegations against him.

As you’ve just heard, the numbers are pretty appalling. Joining me now is someone who lived it: actress, ex-wife of former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson and spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Robin Givens. Greetings.

Robin Givens: Greetings.

Behar: Does this Rihanna/Chris Brown [story] bring up bad memories for you?

Givens: Yes, it does.

Behar: Tell me how you’ve been feeling lately while you’re watching this on television?

Givens: Even sitting now, you know, here with you, it shakes you up. You know, you begin to sweat. You begin to feel sad all over. … It’s hard to sit here.

Behar. You were saying to me before that it’s always the same story. What do you mean by that?

Givens: I’ve spoken to women every[where]. … Peoria, El Paso. … And what’s amazing is that I find that my story is their story; their story is my story — down to the details. He dragged me down the hall by my hair. He pulled me out of bed by my panties. He would like to choke me. He would kick.

When I wrote my book, I was somewhere talking about something. And a woman came up to me and she said I wanted you to stop talking because I felt like everybody would know that you were talking about me.

Behar: Oh, boy. And it’s the same progression, too, it seems?

Givens: I was hit for the first time before I was married. And I did what you thought you should do, of course. You know, you don’t take any phone calls. Three days, absolutely not. Absolutely not. All of a sudden, you start taking a phone calls.

Behar: Softening up.

Givens: Yes. And then all of a sudden, OK, let’s meet and we’ll talk. And then you meet and all of a sudden this person, this man that you love, that’s claiming his love for you, is crying, you know?

And then you’re consoling them. And it just becomes, I’ll never, ever, ever do it again. … I just love you so much. It’s so hard for me to handle how much I love you. And it [the cycle of abuse] just begins.

[From CNN]

I remember very clearly when Robin Givens finally left Mike Tyson – she was made out to be a liar and a gold digger by the press, who was still infatuated with Tyson and didn’t want to believe he was an abuser. Her career never really recovered, even after Tyson went to jail on rape charges. Hopefully, Rihanna won’t endure the scorn and ridicule Givens did – but there sure are a lot of people who don’t want to believe her story, too.

Robin Givens in Los Angeles last fall. Photo credits: WENN.

The National Federation for The Blind takes offense at the portrayal of blind people in the upcoming thriller Blindness, starring Julianne Moore and Marc Ruffalo. Blindness portrays a breakdown in society after a virus starts wiping out everyone’s vision, turning them into savages who compete for meager resources. Blind people think it’s outrageous that they’re portrayed so negatively and plan a protest of the film, which is out in limited release in the US this Friday, October 3.

Blind people quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves, trading sex for food. For Marc Maurer, who’s blind, such a scenario _ as shown in the movie “Blindness” _ is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society.

Instead, it’s an offensive and chilling depiction that Maurer fears could undermine efforts to integrate blind people into the mainstream.

“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind. “Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”

The organization plans to protest the movie, released by Miramax Films, at 75 theaters around the country when it’s released Friday. Blind people and their allies will hand out fliers and carry signs. Among the slogans: “I’m not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life.”

The movie reinforces inaccurate stereotypes, including that the blind cannot care for themselves and are perpetually disoriented, according to the NFB.

“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help _ at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the organization.

[AP via Huffington Post]

Seven staff members of the National Federation for The Blind, including three people who are not blind, attended a screening of the film last week. They’re not simply responding to the trailers and have a legitimate beef with the film.

The film was not received well at Cannes, with the jury giving it a 1.3 average out of 4. Blindness has a 41% aggregate critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it seems like people either love it or hate it. It’s criticized as being too self-important and negative in tone. The film also features Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here are two trailers.

Thanks to AllMoviePhoto for these pictures.

U2 frontman Bono, who has become an international spokesperson in recent years on global poverty, is astounded by how quickly the U.S. government was willing to part with $700 Billion to bail out flatlining investment banking firms. The singer says he and other advocates have had trouble getting just a fraction of that amount to help end poverty in underdeveloped nations for years. Bono teamed up with former President Bill Clinton yesterday to ensure that this latest economic crisis in the U.S. doesn’t overshadow the ongoing need for global aid.

The U.S. financial crisis making global waves is no excuse for governments and companies to walk away from helping the world’s poor, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and rocker Bono said on Wednesday.

As Congress debates a White House-proposed $700 billion bailout for the worst financial crisis since the Depression of the 1930s, Bono questioned why wealthy countries had not been able to come up with enough aid for the world’s problems.

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger,” the U2 lead singer told Clinton’s fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. “That’s mad, that is mad.”

“This crisis is not an excuse to walk away from the world’s challenges, but a compelling reason to intensify our efforts to meet them, around the corner and around the world,” said Clinton, who has focused on humanitarian work since leaving the White House in 2001.

The Group of Eight wealthy nations vowed in 2005 to raise annual aid levels $50 billion by 2010, $25 billion of which was to go to Africa. But under current spending plans, the G8 will fall $40 billion short, according to a June report by the Africa Progress Panel set up to monitor implementation.

“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs,” Bono said, referring to the bankruptcy declared by Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “But this is moral bankruptcy.”

[From Yahoo News]

Perhaps someone (like maybe a certain former president?) should have explained to Bono that the reason the U.S. government was so willing to hand over that kind of money to bail out Wall Street is because it’s not really their money- its the taxpayers who will be footing the bill for this little exercise in corporate welfare. It’s easy to give away something that’s not yours to begin with. Still, the rocker does have a point- our economic woes are a walk in the park compared to what people in poor and warring parts of Africa go through on a daily basis. They lack access to some of the most basic human needs and for the most part, nobody cares.

Clinton, Bono and Al Gore are shown below at the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative at the Sheraton Hotel in NY on 9/24/08. Credit: Janet Mayer/PRPhotos

Anonymous, that group of vigilante citizens and hackers looking to debunk and expose Scientology, are planning to protest at the premiere of “All My Sons” on Broadway, starring Katie Holmes, wife of the most famous Scientologist in the world. The faceless group says they aren’t looking to shut down the production, but are just looking to “prove a point” and to hopefully “save Katie.”

When Katie Holmes’ Broadway show “All My Sons” opens Oct. 16, ticket holders won’t be the only ones in attendance. The anti-Scientology group Anonymous will be on hand for Holmes’ Broadway debut as well.

The group confirms that a protest will take place opening night. “We aren’t looking to shut it (“All My Sons”) down, we don’t have the power to do that, we just want to prove a point,” one spokesperson (who remains anonymous, natch) confirmed via phone.

Anonymous’ protests, when they take place in person (the group often launches Web-based protests) are easy to spot, thanks to the tell-tale masks Anonymous members wear. The group, which calls itself a “leaderless worldwide group of concerned citizens” recently picketed the Scientology Center on West 46th Street in New York.

Of the group’s plans to picket the “Sons” opening, the spokesperson said their main aim was to “save Katie.” “We want to draw attention to Scientology, and hopefully get Katie out of it before its too late.”

[From MSNBC]

I’m surprised that Anonymous would reveal their protest plan ahead of time. I wonder what they’re going to do? By the way, the masks they wear look like the same one worn in the movie “V for Vendetta.” They also occasionally dress like pirates. I certainly admire their guerrilla tactics and they’ve been able to get themselves and their cause noticed, but I do wonder how they plan on saving Katie by protesting at her play. There are already numerous “Save Katie” web sites- which the actress has probably never been allowed to see. Who knows- maybe this will pump up sagging ticket sales to the show, which also stars John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest.

Here’s anonymous at The 7th Worldwide peaceful protest against the Church of Scientology in NY City on 8/16/08. Credit: MLM/ Fame Pictures

At a protest rally in Washington DC, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey spoke yesterday on behalf of “Green Our Vaccines” a group that has called into question the vaccination program for infants and toddlers recommended by the government. The two celebrities articulated the group’s position, that childhood vaccines are likely a contributing factor to a rise in childhood autism and possibly other diseases as well.

McCarthy, whose own son has been diagnosed with autism, has been especially outspoken on the subject. According to CBS News, the actress and “Green our Vaccines” are most concerned with the schedule of childhood vaccines and preservatives added to the vaccines. Green our Vaccines attributes a rise in childhood autism to an increase in the number of vaccines, coupled with chemicals used in the vaccines that may cause severe neurological problems to a small minority.

Critics of the group, including the Center for Disease Control, point to a lack of evidence that links vaccinations directly to Autism. CDC also points out the thousands of lives saved from vaccinations against smallpox, polio, measles, and whooping cough. Other critics point out that more awareness of autism and new ways to identify autism has led to more reported cases of the disease, which has led to an appearance that more children are developing the disease. Finally critics point to recent studies that failed to prove any causal connection between Autism and childhood vaccinations.

However, the Allegheny Times reports that since the 1980′s the number of vaccinations required for children has tripled. The times quotes one critic of the CDC’s mandatory vaccination schedule:

In the early 1980s, children were receiving only 10 vaccinations. At that time, the rate of autism diagnoses was one in 10,000. Now, children receive 36 vaccines, and the number of autistic children, according to federal agencies, is one in 150.

[From TimeOnline.com]

Both sides agree that vaccinations are necessary to prevent many childhood diseases. But despite the CDC’s claim that vaccinations are safe, it will take more than studies funded by the pharmaceutical companies to convince the skeptics like Green Our Vaccines.