Celebrity ‘Special’ Jail Terms
Hmm. Equal treatment for ‘celebrities’ by the law? Lyndsay Lohan (multiple drink driver found with drugs) serves a 1 day jail term Nicole Richie fails to even make it to the cells and spends 82 minutes in the reception area of a detention centre and this side of the pond Pete Doherty is arrested and released yet again due to Police errors(and you know it’s only so he can get fresh drug supplies). The message this seems to send out is that if you’re even moderately famous the rules may be different or you can afford a slightly more skilful lawyer.
I’m less concerned that Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood failed to be reprimanded or fined (threaten a £50 fine! what a deterrent for a Rolling Stone) for on stage smoking during the recent Rolling Stones gig at the O2 arena but the fear must have been that it would not be pretty to watch two old living fossils go cold turkey on stage and anyway they both play so bad live that they need all the help they can get.
On a serious note I worry that this kind of tacit approval is having a bigger knock on effect elsewhere in our society where rules are seen as something that apply only to unsuccessful people and that flouting them is a badge of honour that many of us secretly applaud.
In Los Angeles, anyway, it is expected that you will suck up to celebrities, as a method of supporting your local industry. Where I live, out in the flyover zone, things are decidedly different: Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone) got pulled over on a motorway in Oklahoma City for speeding (maybe) and a badly-executed lane change (more likely), was found to be carrying a whole pharmacy with him, and was duly frog-marched downtown to a cell. It was the next day before His People were able to prevail and get him freed, but he still had to come back and face some semblance of a trial.
Hello CGHIll(dustbury)-Ta for the perspective.So in an odd way the entertainment industry is seen as a bigger force for good than the law? I wish someone would explain to me why these people insist on driving themselves. I presume they have some money (maybe Macaulay C doesn’t these days, I don’t know) so why not be driven if only by taxi? Maybe I’m just too sensible and hence would fail to pass my celebrity exams (what!! They don’t have to pass any exams either???).