Circle The Wagons

The show said it pulled the story "out of respect for Heath Ledger's family," but in reality, "Entertainment Tonight" got neutered by some actors and PR firms.

"Entertainment Tonight" was hardly the lone news organization to broach the topic of potential drug abuse by the star, but the video it acquired, reportedly taken two years ago at a party at the Chateau Marmont, drew the fiercest attention. The syndicated magazine's sister show, "The Insider," aired a preview of the story that it had planned to run that actually showed several segments of the video. Following the Hollywood protest, "The Insider" yanked the segment from the West Coast version of its telecast.

In the video, Ledger is seen standing in the doorway of a room where the party was taking place, swigging from a beer bottle. The actor is heard saying that he was "going to get serious shit from my girlfriend" for being at the party. The show made clear that there was nothing on the video showing Ledger taking any drug. At one point, however, the actor said he "used to smoke five joints a day." Later, with Ledger in the background, an unidentified man, his face blurred, seems to snort cocaine from a table.

After seeing a promotion for the show Wednesday, a publicist at ID, Ledger's public relations firm, called "Entertainment Tonight" and asked that the segment be pulled. The request was refused. ID then composed a three-paragraph protest letter that it distributed to some 30 other public relations firms around Hollywood, asking them to tell their clients about what was about to happen. The circle included powerhouse publicists like PMK-HBH, 42 West and BWR. The letter said "ET" had paid a large sum of money for the video to stir up an exploitive story about Ledger.

"For the sake of his grieving family and friends, his child and common decency, we hope to pressure `Entertainment Tonight' and `The Insider' to do the right thing and pull the spot," the letter said. "This is not journalism, it is sensationalism. It is a shameful exploitation of the lowest kind, to a talented and gentle soul, undeserving of such treatment."

Stars, studio executives and PR firms all called "ET" to register protests. The star-studded roster of ID alone includes Robin Williams, Sean Penn, Tobey Maguire, Mike Myers, Jennifer Hudson, Katie Holmes, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ledger's "Brokeback" co-star Jake Gyllenhaal. "I think we have all heard from members of the media and members of the public that it's too much. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are the top news stories when Darfur should be," said the CEO of ID, who clearly doesn't rep either of the two media hungry celebutants.

No boycott was threatened, but executives at "Entertainment Tonight" refused to talk publicly about the retreat. There was no reason given why that particular show was singled out when many other publications and TV outlets were talking about the same thing, and he party video is likely to be seen soon in England, and is already available over the Internet.

It is no secret that PR firms are just scummy bullshit artists in expensive designer clothing, and actors are just waiters who spend 22 minutes on your television rather than at your table. Biting the hand that feeds them is dangerous, and Hollywood has finally bought into it's own hype that it's more important than the news. Granted, "Entertainment Tonight" is news like McDonalds is healthy cuisine, but the fucking video exists - you can't bury the embarrasing and incriminating parts of the past just to make the dead more noble. If Brit Brit takes a dirt nap, nobody is going to step in "out of respect" and try to get the junk yanked.

But now Hollywood's beloved departed and his dirt has become their Alamo of dirty laundry. Yeah, blah blah blah they care, but who's next? Now they're going to start calling in the veiled threats to kill what they don't want to get out...even when it's true. They don't want the world to pay attention to foreign genocide, unless it's part of a film they're promoting. The victory goes to Hollywood, but it's pyrrhic. Watch your back Tinsletown, and bury those videos now before they turn up somewhere...