Categories: The Column

30/07/2014

By Charlotte HopeCelebrity Writer

Tulisa Contostavlos

There really isn’t more I can add to this title. There’s just so much to SAY. I understand that Tulisa’s drug bust trial fell apart last week in court when it was decided that the ‘fake Sheikh’ was actually not telling the truth. The actual facts of this case seem to have been shrouded in the fame that Tulisa brought to the court room, but it seems she was set up for a news story and accidentally landed herself in some hot water. Hot drug infused water. Interestingly, the ‘fake Sheikh’ (real name Mazher Mahmood) works for News International, baby daddy of many of the papers that are getting a considerable amount of mileage from Tulisa’s trial. All a coincidence, of course.

So Tulisa has been able to break her silence as it’s not good etiquette to chat about your court case while it’s going on. Potentially it’s illegal, as well. But thank goodness it’s over so we can hear all about what she’s been through!! I’m more interested in how much she paid for her lips, though. And where she went so that I make sure I never go there. Did we all see her reading her statement? I mean, God almighty. Anyway, now that it’s all over, Tulisa can begin to rebuild her life and go on as many TV shows as is humanly possible to get her story out there. What’s remarkable, and what we should thank her for, is the foresight she’s shown in documenting the last 13 months of her life at home for just this occasion. I doff my cap to you, Tulisa, for your commitment to the media even when the media tried to shaft you.

Freddie Prinze Jr

Freddie Prinze Jr, the King of the closed-mouth-smile, has come out and said that Keifer Sutherland is ‘unprofessional’ and that working on 24 made him want to ‘quit the industry’. I don’t watch 24 and it was my take on things that he had already quit the industry so this was all a pleasant and unpleasant surprise. Keifer Sutherland looks like he might be a bit tricky to work with, doesn’t he? He’s got a growly looking face. What Prinze Jr actually said was that he was ‘the most unprofessional guy in the world’. IN THE WORLD. Such excellent hyperbole from Freddie there. I’m going to go out on a limb and say there are more unprofessional people living and working in this world than Keifer Sutherland.

It’s probably the case that Freddie Prinze Jr didn’t realise his words about one of the most popular television shows to grace our screens in the fifteen years or so would be picked up by many, many news outlets. It’s also probably a coincidence he said them whilst on a press junket for his new film, Star Wars Rebels, thus gaining him attention where before, it could be argued, there would have been none. But this is no place for disparaging conspiracy theories and I’m glad someone has finally spoken out about the pressures of working with Sutherland. Weren’t we all thinking it?

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has ‘finally’ revealed that she’s doing a jazz album with Tony Bennett. This comes as no surprise to those of us that follow her Instagram or Twitter (I follow both) as she keeps posting pictures of herself with Bennett or pictures of herself draped in pearls or in classic jazz-era outfits with captions such as ‘Did you know I’ve been singing jazz since I was 13?’ I did know, as it happens, because I was (and will concede that I am, though to a lesser extent than before) a huge Lady Gaga fan. Regardless, her tell-tale pictures in the run up to the announcement rendered the actual announcement quite the anti-climax.

There’s potential here for this album to be quite good. Bennett is a noted jazz singer with many excellent albums, and one of his most recent featured a duet with Gaga of a version of ‘The Lady is a Tramp’, which is absolutely excellent. Since her last album, for whatever reasons, was promoted quite poorly this one is the perfect curveball to throw at her critics. I’m very interested to see what kind of reception it gets and how they plan on touring it, if at all they do. I’ll always have a soft spot for Gaga – even if sometimes it feels like she’s just going through the motions of being a little bit left field rather than actually doing things for their artistic merit – and I’ll almost certainly be picking up a copy (downloading digital files) of this album.

Joe Mellor

Head of Content

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