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Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals


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3 hours ago, Zella said:

Yes I think you're right. The first time I heard of it was in 2003 when Reader's Digest published an article about former Steelers center Mike Webster. He had died the previous year and was the first NFL player officially diagnosed with CTE postmortem. 

There was a great PBS documentary that used to be in Netflix called League of Denial about Mike Webster and the pathologist that first diagnosed CTE in football players and how the NFL basically ignored it(it was the basis for the Will Smith movie Concussion). I don't even really like football but watched the whole thing and would watch it again if I could.

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Not just that,  they royally effed up putting  Mark Furhman on the stand. His hatred of blacks and pleading the fifth on the question of whether or not he ever planted evidence -- added to the already questionable chain of evidence with some of the evidence from the scene.  Remember this happened only a few years after Rodney King.  There was already mistrust of the LAPD and their treatment of black folks.  All you need to acquit is reasonable doubt.  And he handed it to the jury on a silver platter. They could have been able to read DNA sequences like a Dr. Suess book and it would not have mattered because of Furhman.

It shone a light on a lot of issues to a lot of white people.  Everything about race relations, police brutality, the justice system , and especially the public consciousness when it comes to protecting white women from black men, was something Black people were intimately aware. Nothing was surprising or new.  Honestly the only thing that was surprising was that he was acquitted.

That whole trial seemed like the perfect storm of issues that worked together to get him acquitted where if even one was not there he probably would have been convicted. There was a poor understanding of DNA, the reputation of the LAPD, poor evidence handling, people not believing a celebrity could be a bad person and people not being able to link the ideas that if someone beats their wife they might also kill them.

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3 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

There was a great PBS documentary that used to be in Netflix called League of Denial about Mike Webster and the pathologist that first diagnosed CTE in football players and how the NFL basically ignored it(it was the basis for the Will Smith movie Concussion). I don't even really like football but watched the whole thing and would watch it again if I could.

I'll have to check that out! I was just a teenager when I read the article so didn't know who he was--I was that weird kid that read Reader's Digest cover to cover every month LOL--but it was such a sad story. 

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I think OJ would have been acquitted without Mark Fuhrman, Celebrities are usually given the benefit of the doubt and he had enough money to hire his own experts.

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15 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

Wow! Thoughtless words even if he was innocent. Going through a trial is nothing compared to what the victims or their families went through.

Nicole and Ron really got lost in all the hoopla didn’t they?

It is sad how the victims and their familes were overshadowed and overlooked, even to this day, by the "hoopla" (apt description) that was the murderer and the media circus.

It reminds me of Fred Goldman's words during the trial, that Ron was "a footnote to his own murder." 😪

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11 hours ago, Blergh said:

There's not much to add about the horrific crime and Mr. Simpson's time here afterward.

 

I will say though that it wouldn't come as a surprise if his younger children revealed that they had NOT slept through 'anything' as their late mother Nicole Brown Simpson would claim but learned  early to pretend to do so as a means to survive- figuratively and perhaps even literally.

That is one of the things that chilled me to the bone when I thought about it. It wasn't enough that he slaughtered Nicole and Ron. That he gave no fucks that his innocent young children could have woken up at any time and witnessed this. Or, even if they did, in fact, sleep through the murders, that had it not been for their dog barking and the neighbor finding him with blood on his paws, they would have found their mother, nearly decapitated and covered in blood, and Ron as well. Nicole's last thoughts being that she was going to die and who it was that was going to kill her and her babies right upstairs. Hell is almost too good for the deceased murderer.

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(edited)

Broadcaster Robert MacNeil who co-founded and co-hosted The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with fellow journalist Jim Lehrer which went on to become The PBS News Hour has died, age 93.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-co-founder-of-newshour-dies-at-93

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/12/robert-macneil-dead-newshour/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/robert-macneil-dead-pbs-anchorman-1235873118/

 

Edited by MissAlmond
JIM not Tom Lehrer!
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(edited)

This CNN article echoes all the other mentions I happened to inadvertently catch yesterday about OJ’s passing.  
None of the discussion I caught mentioned the likelihood of a pro footballer having TBI or CTE, which some of us considered here, upthread. 
For the sake of his children and any grandchildren, I hope they do a postmortem exam for such brain damage. But it would be best if any definitive conclusions as to the presence or absence of a brain injury be kept out of the media.
So I’m fine with not knowing.

ETA:
I haven't researched this further, but a NY Times commenter posted:

Quote

An autopsy at this point would be inconclusive because of age-related changes in the brain. CTE is certainly at least a potentially explanatory factor but an autopsy would not and could not prove anything either way.

 

Edited by shapeshifter
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7 hours ago, ABay said:

The You're Wrong About podcast ran a series of episodes about the trial: https://podyssey.fm/list/id37804-Youre-wrong-about-O-J-Series

 

I access that podcast here, because there are transcripts available there for a lot of them, and I vastly prefer to read than spend the time listening to a podcast.  For anyone else with a similarly-limited attention span, here's a direct link to first episode about the trial; just click on transcript. 

I haven't read the transcripts of any of the Simpson trial episodes yet, as I just discovered the podcast recently, but I like that they start with background on Nicole -- I think a lot of people forget that she was only 18 years old when she met O.J. (he was almost 30).  And I'm not sure how many ever knew that, right after they started dating, he put her up in an apartment - still being married to his first wife and all, he couldn't move her into his house until later - because she was living, platonically, with a male friend and he didn't like that.  Dude was a creep from day one of that relationship, and made her dependent on him almost immediately.

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2 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Broadcaster Robert MacNeil who co-founded and co-hosted The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with fellow journalist Tom Lehrer which went on to become The PBS News Hour has died, age 93.

Robert MacNeil's is a life much more worth celebrating than the other one dominating the conversation all over again. His was a life lived to insure the much needed dissemination of the truth. His type of journalism is in very short supply in today's world. May he rest in peace with the knowledge of a job well done. Thank you, sir.

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Wow, Thursday night must really have been special at the Hollywood Bowl.

From Los Angeles Magazine:

Farewell to a Pirate: Stars Come Out to Honor Jimmy Buffett

Here's a snippet, but the whole article (not very long) is worth the time. 

Harrison Ford and Don Johnson delivered emotional eulogies. Pitbull and Jon Bon Jovi teamed up for a song. Paul McCartney enjoyed a margarita, and Snoop Dogg smoked a blunt “in honor of my main man Jimmy B.”

For more than three hours Thursday night, superstar singers and celebrities entertained a sold out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl as Los Angeles said goodbye to the late Jimmy Buffett.

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On 4/11/2024 at 10:58 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Link: Simpson, Dead at 76

I haven't been this excited to confirm anyone's death at all, but OJ is probably my first time. I've only heard snippets of what went down, but then I saw American Crime Story and was just infuriated at the injustice of it all.

Hope the afterlife will serve as a better judge wherever Simpson's damned soul is at now (preferably somewhere eternally burning).

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(edited)

Faith Ringgold, quilt artist and children's book author, has died at the age of 93.

From the article: "For more than a half-century, Ms. Ringgold explored themes of race, gender, class, family and community through a vast array of media, among them painting, sculpture, mask- and doll-making, textiles and performance art. She was also a longtime advocate of bringing the work of Black people and women into the collections of major American museums."

Edited by praeceptrix
Edited to add details.
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(edited)

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rust-armorer-hannah-gutierrez-reed-170926648.html

“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed blasted the jurors who convicted her of manslaughter charges in recorded jail phone conversations as “idiots” and “a--hole...

Quote

Those crude comments by Gutierrez-Reed were among the revelations made by prosecutors ahead of her sentencing on Monday. Gutierrez-Reed also said she wants Alec Baldwin, who was handling the gun that fired the fatal shot on the movie set in 2021, to go to jail, too, and that she won’t testify at his upcoming criminal trial if subpoenaed.

Edited by Shannon L.
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14 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Well, she certainly hasn't learned anything from all of this. yay 😒

Least of all charm or the truth of the adage of catching more bees with honey than vinegar. ..

Did she truly believe that the evidence could have been interpreted to give her a 'get outta jail free' card?Shame Facepalm GIF by MOODMAN

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52 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed blasted the jurors who convicted her of manslaughter charges in recorded jail phone conversations as “idiots” and “a--hole...

It gets even worse:  She asked one of the paralegals on her case to ask the victim's husband and son to speak on her behalf at the sentencing hearing!

(This is all according to the same prosecution filing, which is a response to the defense's sentencing memo; the defense seeks a conditional discharge, so this filing is about all the ways in which she doesn't deserve one, even though she's eligible, including that she repeatedly fails to take any shred of responsibility, instead blaming everyone else - including the medics - and accusing people of being on the take.)

 

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4 hours ago, Bastet said:

🤯

Quote

…the State asserts that Ms. Gutierrez should not be granted a conditional discharge because, upon her arrival in New Mexico, she swiftly committed a host of felonies and has another felony charge pending before Judge Ellington (D-101-CR-2023-418) for intentionally hiding a firearm from security at a local bar to get the firearm into the bar. Upon successfully circumventing the security at the bar she went into the restroom and made a selfie video stating "They checked my purse, but they didn't check my butt cheeks! Wah, wah, wah." At the same time that she was speaking she held up a nickel-plated semi-automatic pistol in front of the camera. There is additional evidence that has previously been presented the Court that Ms. Gutierrez was in possession of cocaine while in New Mexico and while working as the firearms expert on the set of Rust, yet another felony.…

https://nmcourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/April-12-2024-States-Response-to-Defendant-Sentencing-Memorandum-and-Request-for-Conditional-Discharge.pdf

🤯 🤯
I suppose this doesn't reflect well upon those responsible for employing her either. Stay tuned. 

And now back to Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. He's still got it.
 

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34 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

And now back to Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. He's still got it.

I was looking for a place on the forums where we could talk about it while it's airing, but there doesn't seem to be a place for it anymore. 

Yes, Billy's still got it! I honestly can't get over the range he still has at 75!

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15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I suppose this doesn't reflect well upon those responsible for employing her either. Stay tuned. 

The probably thought Gutierrez-Reed knew how to handle the job because her father - Thell Reed - had an excellent reputation as an armorer and assumed he taught her firsthand.  

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36 minutes ago, MissAlmond said:

The probably thought Gutierrez-Reed knew how to handle the job because her father - Thell Reed - had an excellent reputation as an armorer and assumed he taught her firsthand.  

He definitely is highly respected, but from what I've seen, the overriding reason she was hired was because the production was so cheap that other professional armorers balked at being required to do both that job and prop work. I think if she had been a no-name, she still would have been hired because she was apparently the only one willing to deal with that. I don't think that reflects well on her or the production. 

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4 hours ago, Shrek said:

The executor is a piece of shit for even thinking it never mind saying it out loud. 

No surprise there, OJ was pretty clear that he didn't want to give a nickel to the Goldman family, ever.  Therefore, he hired an attorny to execute his will and carry out those wishes.

The executor also said that the Simpson family, presumably OJ's kids, have declined an autopsy and specifically have refused the opportunity to have OJ's brain evaluated for TBI from football.  NBC reported that the family plans to cremate him intact and have no plans to donate any part for research.

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(edited)
36 minutes ago, Zella said:

He definitely is highly respected, but from what I've seen, the overriding reason she was hired was because the production was so cheap that other professional armorers balked at being required to do both that job and prop work. I think if she had been a no-name, she still would have been hired because she was apparently the only one willing to deal with that. I don't think that reflects well on her or the production. 

Yes, the Rust production was cheap, and I know professional armorers balked at taking the job. But, IMO, I still believe what swayed them to hire her was her father.  After all, what could be better than a cheap first-time lead armorer, so eager for the experience, you could throw in prop master too. But this cheap, eager armorer has a father who has done the job and his reputation in the industry is solid?  The production company thought they scored a bargain. 

Edited by MissAlmond
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38 minutes ago, Zella said:

but from what I've seen, the overriding reason she was hired was because the production was so cheap

And that is on Alec Baldwin.  
 

Baldwin’s attorney has said he’s planning on calling A list actors to the stand as character witnesses.

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1 hour ago, Zella said:

And it's being reported now that she got the maximum 18 month sentence the prosecution requested, and the judge specifically called her out for her lack of personal accountability about her actions. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/entertainment/rust-film-shooting-armorer-sentencing/index.html

I was amazed that even after knowing the judge had listened to those jailhouse calls, Gutierrez still kept blaming everyone else when she gave her final statement.  Unreal.

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10 minutes ago, cynicat said:

I was amazed that even after knowing the judge had listened to those jailhouse calls, Gutierrez still kept blaming everyone else when she gave her final statement.  Unreal.

It really is. I'd wondered if this might be a teachable moment for her. But based on her behavior, I'm thinking that's going to be a no. Maybe she will gain some clarity in prison, but I doubt it. 

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20 hours ago, shapeshifter said:
On 4/14/2024 at 5:30 PM, Bastet said:

🤯

Quote

…the State asserts that Ms. Gutierrez should not be granted a conditional discharge because, upon her arrival in New Mexico, she swiftly committed a host of felonies and has another felony charge pending before Judge Ellington (D-101-CR-2023-418) for intentionally hiding a firearm from security at a local bar to get the firearm into the bar. Upon successfully circumventing the security at the bar she went into the restroom and made a selfie video stating "They checked my purse, but they didn't check my butt cheeks! Wah, wah, wah." At the same time that she was speaking she held up a nickel-plated semi-automatic pistol in front of the camera. There is additional evidence that has previously been presented the Court that Ms. Gutierrez was in possession of cocaine while in New Mexico and while working as the firearms expert on the set of Rust, yet another felony.…

https://nmcourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/April-12-2024-States-Response-to-Defendant-Sentencing-Memorandum-and-Request-for-Conditional-Discharge.pdf

2 hours ago, Zella said:

And it's being reported now that she got the maximum 18 month sentence the prosecution requested, and the judge specifically called her out for her lack of personal accountability about her actions. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/entertainment/rust-film-shooting-armorer-sentencing/index.html

1 hour ago, cynicat said:

I was amazed that even after knowing the judge had listened to those jailhouse calls, Gutierrez still kept blaming everyone else when she gave her final statement.  Unreal.

50 minutes ago, Zella said:

It really is. I'd wondered if this might be a teachable moment for her. But based on her behavior, I'm thinking that's going to be a no. Maybe she will gain some clarity in prison, but I doubt it. 

The transcripts of recordings and the judge's readings of her mindset regarding the lethal consequences of her choices remind me of a family member who has untreated bipolar tendencies (but who, fortunately, does not work with lethal weapons).
On top of the possibility of her having chemical imbalances in her brain, it sounded like she was self-medicating with cocaine??? (see quote box above)
IDK. Maybe it's "just" cocaine addiction or use that has unbalanced her brain chemistry?
Whichever, I don't see how after 18 months incarceration she was not also required to fulfill mandated mental health treatment in order to safely function in society.
Or is that not something the judge could order?

 

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(edited)
5 hours ago, Notabug said:

The executor also said that the Simpson family, presumably OJ's kids, have declined an autopsy and specifically have refused the opportunity to have OJ's brain evaluated for TBI from football.  NBC reported that the family plans to cremate him intact and have no plans to donate any part for research.

I am not sure it matters. It might be some weird confirmation bias thing but the percentage of pro football players whose families felt they had brain damage and had them examined for CTE after their deaths is already insanely high (like over 90% percent in one study). So it's not like it will change the data in any way.

Edited by Kel Varnsen
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8 hours ago, Zella said:

 from what I've seen, the overriding reason she was hired was because the production was so cheap

 

7 hours ago, roamyn said:

And that is on Alec Baldwin. 

Maybe, but at the same time I'm not a professional armorer, and even I know not to leave guns lying in the dirt and/or carry them around under my arms, much less pose with them so I can look like a badass. It's been said repeatedly, but Guitterez was supposed to be in charge of making sure the weapons were safe for use, regardless of what else she was doing on the set. Don't you have to have some kind of training or a qualification certificate to do that kind of work? I don't know enough about that part of the industry to be certain, but her father has been in the business for years.

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10 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

 

Maybe, but at the same time I'm not a professional armorer, and even I know not to leave guns lying in the dirt and/or carry them around under my arms, much less pose with them so I can look like a badass. It's been said repeatedly, but Guitterez was supposed to be in charge of making sure the weapons were safe for use, regardless of what else she was doing on the set. Don't you have to have some kind of training or a qualification certificate to do that kind of work? I don't know enough about that part of the industry to be certain, but her father has been in the business for years.

Oh I agree 100%. I don't know the ends and outs of being an armorer, but I've lived around firearms all my life. She violated really basic rules of safety. I would have had some sympathy for her if she was clearly just scattered/rushed due to being overwhelmed by having 2 jobs. But I think her actions go way beyond that, and I don't think she would have been any safer if she'd been doing only one job. I think the fact she was the only one willing to take it on goes beyond a question of experience and is indicative of how un-safety-minded she is. Because that's what the other armorers pushed back on--it's dangerous to have your armorers focused on anything but the weapons. She didn't seem to care.

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2 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Brady Bunch Jan GIF by MOODMAN

His claim he was directing his comments at the Goldman attorneys rather than the family was quite the feat of logic. Who does he think the attorneys are representing? 

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I know that it's rather trivial compared to everything else but where did the late Mr. Simpson's legal eagle get his  degree from-  Stereotypical Biker Bar U?

I mean (not that it would even remotely have gotten me to feel an iota of sympathy for their side) but couldn't he have bothered to tried to use professional language when explaining his stance for a public statement instead of just crassly venting like he was at a dive revving up for a pity party?!

All the above said, even had he used professional language, it STILL wouldn't have gotten me on their side but that's what legal eagles are supposed to try to speak  if they're getting paid, right?

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4 hours ago, Blergh said:

I mean (not that it would even remotely have gotten me to feel an iota of sympathy for their side) but couldn't he have bothered to tried to use professional language when explaining his stance for a public statement instead of just crassly venting like he was at a dive revving up for a pity party?!

That was what appalled me more.  Not that he claimed he would fight the Goldman & Brown families - aft all what else is he supposed to say.  It was the utter & complete unprofessionalism when he knew he was dealing with the media.

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OJ Simpson ran a ring of all-cash business deals to hide proceeds from victims’ families

Quote

 

We’re told that the onetime NFL and Hollywood star mostly made his money by doing private autograph signings and demanding stacks of bills for things like podcast appearances — and even charging people to play golf with him.

“He would sign anything except anything that had to do with the trial or murder,” we’re told. “The stipulation was always that he had to be paid in cash.”

 

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On 4/17/2024 at 2:35 AM, roamyn said:

That was what appalled me more.  Not that he claimed he would fight the Goldman & Brown families - aft all what else is he supposed to say.  It was the utter & complete unprofessionalism when he knew he was dealing with the media.

Of course, it is his job and his duty as an attorney to represent Simpson and his family's interests.  Nobody begrudges him for doing the job he is paid to do (well, maybe a little for taking it in the first place, but everyone is entitled to legal representation).  It is the fact that he is all butt-hurt and offended that the Goldman legal reps didn't wait a respectful length of time before answering the press' query as to the status of the judgement they won.  Nobody is 'shitting' on OJ or his family, other than OJ himself for the past 30 years.  I am not sure what would be considered an appropriate lag after a death before admitting that the deceased's estate is going to be responsible for a debt that wasn't paid while he was alive.  Seems like a no brainer to me.  Of course they want their money and OJ's death is not going to change that.

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