MTV News |
- 'American Idol' Top 12 Females Take Stage For First Performance Night
- Drake Is 'Great For Music,' LeBron James And Magic Johnson Say
- Lil Wayne And Eminem's 'Drop The World' Video To Premiere Next Month
- J-Woww Regrets 'Everything' She Wore On 'Jersey Shore'
- Jennifer Lopez Says She's Already Signed New Label Deal
- Waka Flocka Flame 'Ain't Worried' About Who Shot Him
- Snoop Dogg And Kid Cudi Collaborate On 'That Tree'
- Lilly Scott's 'Fixing A Hole': The Story Behind The Cover
- T.I. Makes First Public Appearance Since Prison
- Kevin Smith Reveals Why He's Laying Low After Airplane Drama
| 'American Idol' Top 12 Females Take Stage For First Performance Night Posted: 23 Feb 2010 08:21 AM PST Underdogs Paige Miles, Lilly Scott and Katelyn Epperly shine during new judge Ellen DeGeneres' first official show.
After endless weeks of prep, "American Idol" finally went live Tuesday (February 23), offering fans of the show the first look at the top 12 female performers as well as new judge Ellen DeGeneres, who quickly established that she will be offering up plenty of good advice mixed with comedy chops and support. DeGeneres, who seemed uncharacteristically nervous at times, set the tone early, setting up a video gag explaining why she was on the opposite end of the judges' table from Simon Cowell, explaining that he "wants" her via a doctored clip in which he appeared to be feeling her leg under the table during Hollywood week.
And then it was on to the real business of the night as preschool teacher Paige Miles, 24, went first, growling her way through a peppy, gritty cover of Free's classic rock staple "All Right Now." "I think out of all the girls you have the best voice," Cowell said, before blasting her for the poor choice of what he called a cheap wedding-singer tune. Kara DioGuardi loved the soulful take on the rock song, also praising her chops. One of the season's early audience favorites, 22-year-old student Ashley Rodriguez, took on Leona Lewis' "Happy," offering up a breathy, dramatic and sometimes off-key version of the song by one of Cowell's protégés. "Big song, but there were definitely moments that weren't great," DioGuardi said, suggesting the classically trained singer should try to surprise the judges with more offbeat choices. "It is predictable — I'd like to see you step out and do something that's a whole different vibe," DeGeneres said. Cowell was unequivocal, calling it clumsy and saying Rodriguez was actually going backwards, losing her originality as she progressed in the competition. Wine sales rep Janell Wheeler, 24, the all-American blonde with the strong, smoky voice sang Heart's big ballad "What About Love," starting out rough and a bit off-key and then settling into a more comfortable groove as she hit the chorus. "Wasn't my favorite song choice for you," Randy Jackson said, noting that the tune is hard to make your own. Ellen said she loved the song choice and liked how Wheeler moved onstage, while Cowell said she gave it 100 percent effort but only delivered about 60 percent. Like many of the night's singers, Cowell counseled Wheeler to do something that is clearly this year's theme: find a way to make the song your own. That was easy for former street busker, 20-year-old Lilly Scott of Colorado, who took on the Beatles' "Fixing a Hole," strumming her guitar and singing the classic in a jazzy arrangement that was a bit off in a delightfully quirky way. "I think that's what we're talking about," DeGeneres said with a big smile, praising Scott's unique voice and style. Cowell called it the best of the night at that point and gave Scott props for choosing a song she liked rather than one she suspected might get her through to the next round. He cautioned, however, that he still doubted her star power, drawing the season's first throaty boos from the studio audience. Iowa college student Katelyn Epperly went the Beatles route as well with a bluesy take on "Oh! Darling," while rocking a leather minidress and bunching her signature golden curls in a very '80s-Madonna style. "Even though there were elements of that song where you were beginning to scream the song and it was very messy, I actually like you," Cowell said, dubbing her quirky and interesting and giving a thumbs-up to the brave song choice. "You know your voice very, very well," DioGuardi added, properly guessing that Epperly had been singing her whole life but questioning her slightly glammy makeover. Randy said she nailed the proper tone and, frankly, liked the makeup. Haeley Vaughn, the 16-year-old high school student and budding country star who celebrated making it to Hollywood by getting a nose piercing, made it a Beatles trifecta, choosing a strummy, Duffy-esque version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" that was big on personality but sort of sloppy. Kara said she was all over the place vocally but her infectious energy shined once again, while Cowell called it just plain terrible. "You were like a wind-up doll that never stopped smiling throughout the song," he said. "It was for me just a complete and utter mess." When host Ryan Seacrest wondered how opinions could diverge so widely, DeGeneres quipped, "If it was a mess, it was a hot mess." Trying to make it through a second time after just missing the semifinal round last year, Texas' Lacey Brown, 24, took it down a notch with Fleetwood Mac's tricky "Landslide." Trying to give the tune a jazz-crooner makeover, Brown was shaky at times and the judges let her know about it. "I thought that was terrible ... it was pitchy all over the place," Randy said. Ellen agreed and Cowell called it depressing. "And worse than that, it was kind of indulgent," he said, speculating that she's still trying to figure out who she is. After waiting most of the night to hit the big stage, Miami's Michelle Delamor went big, taking on Alicia Keys' "Fallin,' " throwing in some of her own bluesy runs during a solid performance that helped establish her after a low-key Hollywood week. "That was fantastic," Ellen said, noting that it almost seemed too easy and that Delamor might want to push harder. Cowell called it very professional, if a bit predictable, and praised her look, guessing that she did enough to get through to the next round. Los Angeles waitress Didi Benami has jumped out as an early audience favorite and nailed her sweet spot with Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am," slipping easily into the singer/songwriter ballad with her signature crisp vocals. "I think you are a good singer," Cowell said before calling the song dreary, the performance forgettable and faulting her for being another Duffy/Adele clone. Randy's problem was that he didn't feel any star quality and Ellen said she probably needed to be less low-key on the first live show. Siobhan Magnus, a glassblowing apprentice from Cape Cod, Massachusettes, has carved a lane as this year's eccentric, and she proved it again singing Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" in a froggy croon that was interesting but not her best effort. Though she settled into a groove by song's end, Cowell said the song was a bit dark and didn't live up to Magnus' previous efforts. Kara wasn't feeling the song choice, but loved the oddball quality and the in-the-moment feel of Magnus' performance and DeGeneres said she liked it so much that she momentarily forgot that she was watching a singing competition. The season's female front-runner was one of the last ones to grace the stage and Ohio mom Crystal Bowersox, 24, blew it out with a strummy acoustic guitar and harmonica-assisted ramble through Alanis Morissette's "Hand In My Pocket" that energized the studio audience and once again showed off her powerful vocals. "I love your originality as an artist ... I just love your honesty," Jackson said, a sentiment seconded by DeGeneres, who added that Bowersox is the kind of exciting artist people want to see more of. Cowell brought her back down to earth, saying he loves her whole story and sound but that there are thousands of buskers just like her all over the country doing Alanis covers that sound just like the original. Last up was 17-year-old high school student Katie Stevens, who emoted through one of the only contemporary-ish songs of the night with Michael Buble's "Feeling Good," growling the song's lyrics and working the stage like a jazz diva years her senior while throwing in some Christina Aguilera sass. "It was good, it was great, you have a great voice ... but you're 17; it was very conservative," said Ellen, who would have preferred something more modern and younger, a criticism Cowell agreed with, adding that he found her annoying, pageanty and too old-fashioned. We won't find out which two girls go home until Thursday, but it's the boys' turn to shine Wednesday night. Who do you think nailed it tonight and who do you think deserves to go home? How did Ellen DeGeneres do during her first show? Let us know below! Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. |
| Drake Is 'Great For Music,' LeBron James And Magic Johnson Say Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:50 AM PST 'Drake is bringing a lot to the table,' Johnson tells Mixtape Daily.
Celebrity Favorites Drake coached a basketball team in his "Best I Ever Had" music video, and he recently had a chance to call plays with NBA legend Magic Johnson during the NBA All-Star Game festivities in Dallas.
Drake and Magic's team beat the squad coached by Alonzo Mourning and assistant coach Mario Lopez. Common, Chris Tucker and Pitbull were among the celebs who played with athletes such as Rick Fox, Chris Mullin and Terrell Owens. Magic, an NBA Hall of Famer, said working with Drake earned him cool points at home. "Drake is bringing a lot to the table, man, with a young audience," Magic said in Dallas. "He's from Toronto. I think he's bringing it hard and heavy, you know? My daughter said I was cool because I was coaching with him instead of him coaching with me. All right, thank you!" Meanwhile, LeBron James is like all of us, waiting on Drizzy's Thank Me Later debut. Put aside the fact that they both endorse Sprite or that Drake's "Forever" was the highlight of James' "More Than a Game" film soundtrack — #23 said the Toronto MC is just gifted. "Unbelievable recording artist," LeBron said of Drake. "Unbelievable talent. I'm looking forward [to] his first LP. I think we all got So Far Gone and all the mixtapes he's come out with. But he's an unbelievable talent. He's great for everybody, great for music." For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Lil Wayne And Eminem's 'Drop The World' Video To Premiere Next Month Posted: 23 Feb 2010 07:05 AM PST Clip premieres March 11 on MTV.
Lil Wayne and Eminem will come together once again when MTV premieres the video for "Drop the World," the acclaimed rappers' landmark collaboration, on March 11. Lil Wayne feverishly filmed a series of music videos in the weeks leading up to what he thought would be his last day of freedom two weeks ago, before dental surgery postponed his prison sentence. Director David Rousseau told MTV News that the Cash Money superstar recorded up to nine videos in one weekend, though most were in front of a green screen so his image could be added later to the finished clips. Wayne was definitely on the set for the Chris Robinson-directed "Drop the World," however, which was filmed the night before the pair performed a snippet of the track, the next single from Wayne's Rebirth album, at the Grammys. Robinson told MTV News he was very conscious of the heavy weight carried by both hip-hop superstars, likening the onscreen collaboration to a cinematic counterpart: "How did Scorsese put Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same movie?" And while he wouldn't reveal the premise driving the video, he promised it will match the song's intensity. "As a director, it's how do you, more than anything, combine these two artists together and create something that's special," he explained. "Because when you have two artists together, it's like, 'Oh, they'll stand next to each other [and that's it].' It's very awkward sometimes to have two very big stars. How are you gonna cover that? Especially two artists that are so big. You can do that with a performance at the Grammys, because the spectacle is to watch them onstage and sit in the audience and look at it. But as an artistic piece to have some magic, or if it's a mood piece or whatever way you communicate the music, you have to take two people into consideration with how you do that. "You got two guys who are basically huge supernovas coming together, and the way that the song is constructed is great," he continued. "Because unless you see it coming, you don't know Eminem is on the track. The first two hooks and the first two verses are all Wayne, and it's kind of a surprise when Eminem comes through, and we matched it visually how Eminem enters the piece. From the concept and to just hearing the lyrics, with both of these amazing lyricists killing it, the whole video is just energy." Wayne is scheduled to begin his one-year jail sentence in New York on March 2 after undergoing eight root canals. Related Artists |
| J-Woww Regrets 'Everything' She Wore On 'Jersey Shore' Posted: 24 Feb 2010 03:50 AM PST She's ready to make up for her fashion mistakes during season two.
NEW YORK — "Jersey Shore" star Jenni "J-Woww" Farley wishes she could have a few fashion do-overs when it comes to her season-one style. When asked to pick her biggest fashion regret, she couldn't even narrow it down. "Oh! Everything on the show," she told MTV News during Fashion Week. "I was really sick during the shooting of it. I ended up going to the doctors and the hospital, but they don't show it. So, like, everything!"
While she still has season two to think up some better looks, she knows the one thing she will always include in any one of her outfits. "Earrings!" she explained about her fashion must-have. "I have chubby ears, so I gotta wear my earrings." J-Woww should start packing up all her jewelry, because "Jersey Shore" is hitting the road for season two. The Jersey girl is placing her bets on Miami as the show's next exotic locale. "[Expect] more hookups," J-Woww said. "More drama — a lot more drama. I don't know [what the drama will be about]. We haven't really changed, but we have. ... We're a bigger family, which I love. So, when we're all together, we know each other, so there will be no [holding back]." What do you want to see J-Woww wear for the second season of "Jersey Shore"? Tell us in the comments below! |
| Jennifer Lopez Says She's Already Signed New Label Deal Posted: 24 Feb 2010 05:44 AM PST Singer says Love? will be out this summer.
That was quick. A day after her manager confirmed that she split with longtime label home Sony Music, Jennifer Lopez announced that she has already signed a new deal and will drop her long-in-the-works comeback attempt, Love?, this summer.
"I am making this statement to put an end to any confusion in regards to my next album, titled Love?" Lopez said, according to Billboard. "I have belonged to the Sony family since the beginning of my career as a singer and together we've had great success. I have fulfilled my contractual responsibilities with Sony/Epic up to this point, and we have both reached friendly terms about my departure from the label. I'm also happy to say that we've found a new home for my album, Love?, and that it is slated for release in the summer of 2010." Lopez did not specify what label she has signed to, but Deadline Hollywood, the blog that originally broke the story of the Sony split, reported that the singer/actress is in talks with Island Def Jam. Neither side has discussed what precipitated the split, but Deadline speculated that it might have been a response to the poor critical and commercial reception to the album's first official single, "Louboutins," which failed to light up the charts. The site also suggested that Lopez, who has sold nearly 12 million albums in the U.S. since her 1999 debut, could have walked voluntarily after fulfilling her Sony contract with "Louboutins" and a previously leaked single, "Fresh out the Oven." Lopez is the musical guest and host of "Saturday Night Live" this week. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Waka Flocka Flame 'Ain't Worried' About Who Shot Him Posted: 23 Feb 2010 03:40 AM PST MC says he isn't concerned about self-proclaimed gunman who posted photo of himself online with Waka's stolen chain.
Last week, a man claiming to have shot Waka Flocka Flame last month in Atlanta sent his photo to KarenCivil.com, holding Flocka's stolen diamond Brick Squad chain. Obviously, self-incrimination took a back seat to attaining two minutes of fame for the self-proclaimed assailant.
Although he's said the shooting was an attempt on his life, Flocka said he isn't concerned with who the gunman might be. During a visit to New York on Tuesday (February 23), Flocka said he's moving on from the shooting. "I don't know [if it was actually the gunman] 'cause I didn't even see who shot me," Flocka responded sarcastically when asked about his thoughts on the photo. "I thought a dog shot me. I thought a bird shot me. It's stupid." Flocka was sporting a brand-new Brick Squad chain Tuesday. This one had green diamonds and looked a lot flashier than the one he lost. "This is round two," he said about his new chain. "Round one is gonna pop up in my mailbox like, 'Hey, man — here.' "I ain't worried about you. I appreciate you too," Flame addressed the gunman, looking directly into MTV News' camera. "You got me sacked up real big. I got a stupid house off you, cars off you. I appreciate you, man." When asked why he thought someone would incriminate himself further by putting a picture online, Flocka said he doesn't know or care. "That's on them folks. Let them folks do they job," he said. "It is what it is. Y'all done said enough. I did enough. What, I'mma keep flippin' the story? I don't know, bruh. Let them live their life, I'mma live my life. That's right there [behind me]. They sitting right there. They probably not even sitting this close. I'm giving them too much. I ain't even worried about them. That's so behind me right now." Flocka's "O Let's Do It" and its official remix continue to be hot singles, and he said he's going to let the streets pick his next single and isn't too focused on making an album at the moment. He's content with dropping mixtapes. Waka and Roscoe Dash (of "All The Way Turnt Up" fame) are releasing a street project of duets called Ten Toes Down. Waka also has two solo mixtapes, LeBron Flocka James 2 and Keith Waka Sweat. "For these girls," he explained about why he's putting out the latter. "I got too much girl fans — 70 percent of my shows be girls — so I gotta give them some music." Since being released from the hospital earlier this month, Flocka Flame is just now feeling up to moving around. Besides his gunshot wounds, he had blood clots in his right leg and arm. "I feels good, bro. It feels real different," he said about being mobile. "It feels like the old me died. I promise to God. I don't even have a normal life no more. I'm learning this new lifestyle. I'm just eating what they feed me. In this business, this attitude and anger — you gotta throw that to the side. Your pride, you gotta tuck that in. You go with the flow. But you don't bend over backwards for nobody. To each his own, you gotta really count your moves and what you say in this game." Waka's first show since the shooting was last week in St. Louis. "That thing was turnt up!" Flame boasted of the show. "I'mma keep it gangsta, I was nervous. I was like, 'Are they gonna mess with me? They gonna throw bottles?' But it was crazy. I jumped in the crowd, I walked around in the club. I was in the Lou, turnt up." Related Artists |
| Snoop Dogg And Kid Cudi Collaborate On 'That Tree' Posted: 23 Feb 2010 04:01 AM PST 'I did some more work on it and that's why it's just coming out now,' producer Diplo says of track.
Snoop Dogg just released his Malice N Wonderland album late last year, but that's not stopping the West Coast MC from teaming up with Kid Cudi and hipster producer Diplo for his new single "That Tree" for his follow-up LP More Malice. The album is slated to hit shelves on March 23. The track is a trippy mix of descending drum rolls as Snoop comically rhymes "groupies on my head like a kufi" until Kid Cudi's voice begins the melodious hook. "Everything I'm having no it ain't necessity/ Though I'm shining, keep on grinding/ What you see ain't all of me," Cudi sings over organs. As enjoyable as the song is, Diplo, the cut's producer (who has also worked with M.I.A. and Santigold), had no idea the two rappers were even recording the track. "I've known Snoop's manager Ted Chung for a while and I actually met Snoop through the Swedish singer Robyn at the Grammys last year," Diplo recalled. "We exchanged information because he'd heard of me and I kept in touch. When Ted came around asking for beats, I didn't have any so I gave him some small loops and Ted actually just looped the loops over again." Diplo never heard anything more about the beats until late one night during another recording session with Kid Cudi. "Cudi was like, 'I just did a track with Snoop over your beat.' And I was like, 'What are you talking about?' " Diplo told MTV News. "I had no idea that Ted had taken the small loops and they'd rapped on it, so Ted eventually sent me back a vocal and I kind of constructed a track around that." Unfortunately, "That Tree" did not make the track listing for Malice N Wonderland. "It didn't make that album because of deadlines and it wasn't in the right shape," Diplo said. "But they liked the track and really wanted to use it, so I did some more work on it and that's why it's just coming out now." Related Artists |
| Lilly Scott's 'Fixing A Hole': The Story Behind The Cover Posted: 23 Feb 2010 08:21 AM PST 'American Idol' contestant makes a song by the world's most famous band her own.
She's not Eleanor Rigby, she's not Maxwell with his silver hammer and she certainly isn't Sgt. Pepper. But on Tuesday's (February 23) "American Idol," final 24 contestant Lilly Scott took center stage with a unique spin on another classic song by the world's greatest rock band and judges were unable to find any holes in her performance. Scott — or, as Ryan Seacrest describes her, "the pride of Denver" — covered "Fixing a Hole" by the Beatles, one of the lesser-known classics off their 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a record largely considered to be among the greatest albums ever made.
To many, stepping into the shoes of Lennon and McCartney would be a daunting task. But Scott took center stage with nothing but a guitar, green dress and Anna Faris-like haircut and made it her own. "That's what we're talking about!" Ellen DeGeneres praised her after the performance. "You have such a unique voice!" Kara DioGuardi agreed, saying, "You're unbelievable. Everyone is gonna remember you tonight." Even difficult Simon Cowell had a hard time finding fault, calling her moment in the spotlight among "the best we've had so far. You sang this song because it portrayed you as an artist." Written by Paul McCartney, "Hole" was the fifth song on the Beatles' groundbreaking concept album. Over the years, its use of words like "hole" and "fix" — and its psychedelic vibe — have led many to believe it is about heroin injection. Other theories include everything from it being about holes in the road to holes in the roof of the Scottish farmhouse McCartney owned at the time. The rock legend did admit in a 1967 that the lyric "See the people standing there/ Who disagree, and never win/ And wonder why they don't get in my door" was a reference to the fans who hung around the front door of his home in those days. As for 20-year-old Scott from Littleton, Colorado, she auditioned in Denver after a period spent performing locally with a band called Varlet and time spent as a street musician. Citing her main influences as indie and classic rock, she began her path to "Idol" when she sang the national anthem at Mile High Stadium at only 5 years old. Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Artists |
| T.I. Makes First Public Appearance Since Prison Posted: 23 Feb 2010 12:44 AM PST Rapper attends fiancée's Alzheimer's fundraiser; label partner says Tip's next album is due this summer.
On Monday night, T.I. made his first public appearance since prison, stepping out with fiancée Tameka "Tiny" Cottle in support of her Alzheimer's research fundraiser "For the Love of Our Fathers" at Atlanta's Opera venue. The event was also filmed for Cottle's BET reality show, "Tiny & Toya," which chronicles the lives of Cottle and Toya Carter, Lil Wayne's ex-wife and the mother of his first child. "I am very well, very happy to be seen," said T.I., who joined Cottle onstage at the end of the benefit, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. T.I. is still serving the remainder of his sentence on a gun-possession charge in a Georgia halfway house. He's also recording tracks for his forthcoming album in a private studio. MTV News chatted with T.I.'s manager and Grand Hustle label partner Jason Geter to see when Tip's post-prison album is slated to hit shelves. "We did a deal with the film studio Screen Gems for the movie 'Takers' with T.I. Both the album and the film are coming out at the end of the summer," Geter said. "So, yeah, we have a release date." "Takers," a film about a bank heist interrupted by a detective, stars Zoe Saldana, T.I., Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen and hits theaters August 20. "As for producers, we've been working with DJ Toomp and Lil Cee, who's one of our in-house Grand Hustle producers," Geter told MTV News. "We worked with Danja, the Runners, and we tried out some stuff with these new guys called the TrackSlayers. We're actually working with a lot of new guys. At this point, you don't really chase names. It's about the quality of the material. As for features, we did a track with The-Dream, and Trey Songz is on another hook." The-Dream told MTV News that his collaboration with T.I. "sounds great. He's sounding beautiful. His spirit is really good. He's got the eye of the tiger." Regarding the direction of the album, Geter said the Atlanta MC is still figuring that out. "There's no theme as of yet," Geter said. "The sound is definitely not a bunch of samples." In May 2009, Tip started a 366-day jail term stemming from his October 2007 firearms-possession arrest. For much of 2008 and early 2009, Tip performed more than 1,000 hours of community service. Tip has 500 more hours of community service to perform once he is released from the halfway house in the coming months. Related Artists |
| Kevin Smith Reveals Why He's Laying Low After Airplane Drama Posted: 23 Feb 2010 06:37 AM PST 'When you could have come to my aid, all you did was let me dangle,' writer/director says of the press.
In the entire history of the cinema, you'd have a hard time finding a filmmaker who has made himself more accessible than Kevin Smith. From his low-budget convenience-store beginnings to his current incarnation as director of the Bruce Willis comedy "Cop Out," every move the guy has made over the last decade-and-a-half seems to have been chronicled in some sort of media report, blog, tweet, book or podcast. Which makes it all the more odd that the "Clerks" filmmaker has done very little press to promote his new movie, which opens Friday. Over the last few days, MTV News covered a "Cop Out" press junket and red-carpet premiere in New York City and both times Smith avoided on-camera interviews.
What gives? To say it simply: Kevin is upset at the media. To say it more accurately: There are three factors in play. "If I'm not the guy who's making Kevin Smith movies then who am I?" - First off is the fact that "Cop Out" represents Kevin's first non-writing directorial effort. Much like recent Woody Allen films, the studio seems intent on marketing it without his famous name — and trailers like this one need to be freeze-framed to even catch his credit block. As Smith recently told MTV Radio in one of the few interviews he has done to promote the film, he agrees with the technique and is trying to step back from his usual media presence. "['Cop Out'] has nothing to say itself; it's a popcorn movie," he explained. "Let me see if we can work on this other part of the craft, just me as the director, and leave the personality stuff out of it. Because I've got SModcast now, I've got this Twitter account I'm on every day, I do Q&A's onstage all the time. So I can be myself, express myself in any number of forums. "Before, it used to just be the films, so I'd do it in my films — now I can do it everywhere on a regular basis for free; I don't feel the need to put it in films," he added — then admitted that the "Cop Out" experience has him re-evaluating his own place in Hollywood. "Without [making references to my life in films] I'm like, 'Who am I? If I'm not the guy who's making Kevin Smith movies then who am I?' I'm trying to figure out if I have any skills after 15 years as a professional director." "I'm trying to take the high road" - As everyone and their mother knows by now, Smith was booted from a Southwest Airlines flight last week. After tweeting extensively about it, Smith is trying his best to not talk about the situation anymore — in an excellent Huffington Post article, the writer explains that "he seems reticent to even make normal media appearances to promote the film" because he doesn't want people to ask him about Southwest. On Tuesday (February 23) a follower even went so far as to ask whether Kevin was doing the usual media blitz we would expect to see a few days before one of his films opens. "I did only the print & radio. Skipped TV," he tweeted to his 1.6 million followers. "As all anyone was gonna ask about was SWA, which I'd already said enough about. Despite righteous indignation, [I'm] trying to take the high road." When MTV News approached Kevin's publicity folks for further comment, Warner Bros. declined to make a statement and his personal publicist said, "He very clearly explains himself and the situation [in the tweets]. There is nothing else to add." "I was so mad at the press" - The final — and most significant — reason why you're not seeing Kevin Smith on TV this week is the same one that has made his audience love him for all these years: The man is brutally honest and talkative to a fault. As he explained in Tuesday's tweet, however, he did speak to a handful of radio outlets — and the aforementioned MTV Radio interview offers unique insight into his mind-set these days. "It's on my blog. I would waste time talking about it now, but you could pull it off my SModcast where I do the whole story," Kevin responded when asked the inevitable Southwest question. "I did about 24 video clips called 'Final Words' that also contains the whole story. And the blog has it all outlined; it would be a waste of time to go all over it again now." A good, short, concise, polite answer. The only problem is, fans of Kevin Smith know that such a thing is an impossibility. Sure enough, he spent the rest of the radio interview — approximately one-third of the entire thing — doing exactly what he had just called "a waste of time." The point seemed to be that Smith wants to get his own message out there and then get back to talking about his movie. So, although we rarely run an article this long, we now present Kevin's unedited thoughts on Southwest, the media and how he was wronged: "The long story short? My parents taught me if you get f---ed and you don't want to get f---ed, then you start screaming. And that's what happened. I got lied to, I got f---ed over and I started complaining. And the airline was like, 'Well, something did happen — but he is fat and fat people should buy two seats.' And they put the information out there side by side and made it about weight. But it wasn't about weight — it was about a dude who bounced me for no reason, except maybe he didn't like a joke I told him on my way down the Jetway." "First they were like, 'The pilot told us you have to get off because you're a safety concern.' I was like, 'Are you kidding me? Tell me the pilot's name.' And they lied — they lied again and again ... two days later, they told me, 'The pilot didn't say it, some employee made the call.' And I was like, 'OK, so it had nothing to do [with my weight],' because I could put my armrests down. I literally sat in the seat for five seconds before this chick — who had been all the way up at the desk in the airport — came over. If I just hit my seat and she's saying the pilot wants me off, I was like, 'Where'd you get that message, ma'am?' She's like, 'Well, the pilot told me.' And I can't even see the pilot! I'm sitting in the front row of the bulkhead — if I can't see the pilot, how can he see me? "She's like, 'Well, we have phones.' And I'm like, 'Well, I know you have phones, ma'am. But I'm telling you — I literally sat and here you are.' She said, 'Can you please just come with me?' The lie compounds; the lie compounds. "I go outside, I'm like, 'Give me more information,' and she's like, 'The pilot, the pilot.' Two days later, Southwest is going, 'It wasn't the pilot.' But they don't change that on their blog — they don't point out that they've changed the information. "Everyone's going, 'He's fat' for the next f---ing three days; the top of Google News is everyone in the world telling me I'm fat. Everyone on network [TV] telling me I'm fat; 'Entertainment Tonight' put a f---ing chick in a fat suit and put her on a plane. I'm like, 'What does this have to do [with anything]?' "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know how many ways to say this: For 15 years, I've been completely honest with everybody. I believe in honesty. And I've been saying I'm fat for 15 years. This ain't about being fat — they obfuscated the f---ing truth with my fat, which really bums me out. They used my own fat against me. They hid behind my fat. And that's my job — to hide behind my fat. "The [fat story] is the sexy story that everybody wants to write ... I was so mad at the press because for 15 years I've done nothing but tell you the truth and give you interesting sh-- to write about. And this one time, when you could have come to my aid, all you did was let me dangle and let these f---ers call me fat. Heartbreaking, heartbreaking." Check out everything we've got on "Cop Out." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. |
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