A Four-Step Plan for the Award-Winning Actor and Every
Celeb Fighting to Shield Their Children from Photographers
This article is in response to the NBC News report “George Clooney Calls on Daily Mail to Stop Publishing Photos of Celebrities’ Kids.”
By Gary Glennell Toms
I’ve often wondered how I’d react if independent photographers, or those working for the sleazy media organizations, had a camera in my face 24/7. The paparazzi are quick to say that celebrities give up their privacy when they become megastars, but I’ve never subscribed to that nonsense. I strongly believe that everyone is entitled to his or her privacy, especially when it comes to the children of celebrities. I’d probably lose it if hordes of photographers were camped out in front of my home every night hoping to get “the money shot.” Knowing me, I’d hire a look-a-like to put on a hoodie and moon them from the bedroom window. Many of them are so stupid that they’d snap the picture and email it to their editor in a frantic effort to be the first to get it published, which would give me an opportunity to unleash a team of lawyers on their jackass bosses for falsely stating that I was the person in the photo. That’s one way to take them out, but I believe I’ve come up with a four-step plan that every celebrity should implement to shut many of these dangerous and insensitive ass clowns down once and for all.
Step One: Noted stars like Mr. Clooney, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Adele, Beyonce, and Mila Kunis should come together, pool their money and resources, and form a major agency comprised of young, photojournalism graduate students from across the country.
Step Two: Once clearing a background check with local law enforcement, registering their name with the police department and signing an agreement that all photos taken are exclusively owned by the celebrity-run agency, the department would issue an official certification number linking the students to the agency. The department would strictly enforce the certification rule and exercise the right to check the credentials of all photographers at any given time or event.
Step Three: The students would be paid a generous salary, which could be covered by donations from various celebrities associated with the agency or the movie/television studio the celebrities are signed to, and they would become the official photographers for all exclusive baby or family photos, casual outings, shopping sprees, movie premieres, awards shows and other special events. The agency would then release the photos to all major media publications and news outlets in and outside of the U.S. The media outlets would be given exclusive access to the photos. However, it would be done under the condition that the media outlets refrain from publishing any unauthorized photos of the celebrities or their children. If the agreement is not adhered to, legal action would be taken against the media outlets. Undoubtedly, they would lose in court and become the targets of millions of angry fans in what would likely become an ongoing social media campaign.
Step Four: Once the agency is in place, the celebrities involved in its creation should request an opportunity to speak before legislators, as Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner did in 2013, to address invasion of privacy issues and attempt to have laws passed to protect them and their families from being stalked or pursued by the paparazzi on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis.
If these measures are taken, it could put an end to the hysteria, increasing level of insensitivity and inherent danger associated with the paparazzi. It’s a fact that photographers were in hot pursuit of the late Princess Diana of Wales when tragedy struck. Will another celebrity, or perhaps their children, have to suffer the same fate before someone finally says…. enough is enough?
This commentary is from the heart and…..from The G-Man.