Cut The Spotlight!

A discussion on celebrity culture and privacy in today's world.

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The JL Privacy Project is now Cut The Spotlight! as part of a revamping of our image and a broadening of the subject matter of our project. We hope you will continue to join us on this endeavour. Thank you for your support and patience!

Over the next few days and weeks, we will be rolling out new information, posts, and links so that you can participate alongside us.

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taking photographs of a celebrity is not an illegal act. I'm not standing up for them, but merely taking the time to point out to you that this thing you have going on here will stop nothing. The paprazzi are not breaking the law. Please USE YOUR BRAIN.

Thank you for commenting. Have you actually read any of our posts? We are well aware of the legalities of paparazzi photography, and personally they disgust us, but we respect that they are legal and aren't trying to bring down the paparazzi as a whole. We know that's too big of an issue. What we ARE trying to do is to encourage fans to take a look at how these acts are negatively affecting their idols lives, and consider not sharing and rejoicing in these images when they know the full story.

Have a nice day! 

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I run two official (as in, approved by the celebrity, their management, and their publicity team) fansites. I post candids. The celebrities are fine with it - in fact, some of them have publicly reposted candid photos. So please, do not act like you're any better than fansite owners that choose to post paparazzi photos, and please do not speak on behalf of all celebrities (you are aware that no small number of celebs call paparazzi on themselves?).

We don't speak on behalf of all celebrities whatsoever. We speak for those that have spoken out on how the paparazzi has negatively affected their lives. Those that have been driven to panic attacks by the confrontation, gone up and begged the photographers to stop, and have considered leaving their home cities because they can't handle the stalking. We understand that not all celebrities are bothered by paparazzi attention - we understand many enjoy it. However, we think it's important that fans respect those that do not want their private lives splashed all over magazine pages and the internet. We truly appreciate your comment and want to make it very clear that we do not speak for all celebrities (or any), we're just a small group of people who tire of the blatant disregard of those that DO want their private lives to remain private. Kudos on your official fansites - that's quite an achievement and I'm glad that you have approval to post candids. We know that many celebrities would not be okay with this, and those are the ones that we stand for. We don't think ourselves better than any fansite. We are, again, a small group of people who simply want to raise awareness of those celebrities that do not wish to have their private lives publicised, and inform fans of how they can help take action to ensure their privacy.

This project was prompted by a series of events, a series of interviews - quotes in which Jennifer Lawrence (and others, e.g., Emma Stone) have made it clear that they want to live their lives in peace and have their publicity limited to their work. 

Thank you for commenting and have a lovely day. In the New Year we will be revamping our image and the direction of this project, we hope that you will stay in contact if you have any further comments/questions.

Contact: @cutthespotlight, [email protected]

The JLPP Team.

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Our Twitter handle is now @cutthespotlight. 

Please note: this is part of a bigger rebranding initiative that will be unveiled in Jan.

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More Than Just Annoying

Quite often the response to our protesting against the paparazzi is that the celebrities have “chosen” this life and they should put up with the annoyance. First and foremost, most of them did not choose to be a celebrity – they chose to be an actor, a singer, an author, etc., and society (we) has made them that celebrity. “Celebrities” are people just like us. They just want to live their lives in peace, to walk down the street with their friends or partner or kids without being bombarded by camera flashes and screaming crowds. They didn’t ask for this life. We gave them this life by buying magazines that flaunt these images, by tuning into entertainment specials that show Britney or Lindsay or whoever their target of the moment is doing totally inane things.

Secondly, this is more than a minor annoyance. What you see is celebrities looking pissed off. Maybe you think they’re overreacting. Maybe you think they’re snobbish. What you don’t see is swarms of more than 5, 6 or 7 – maybe even 50 photographers blinding them with their camera flashes, screaming their names, chasing after them, bumping against them, jumping in front of their cars, chasing them in their cars, damaging them and their property in the process.

We all know about the alleged paparazzi involvement in Princess Diana’s death – and yet we do not learn. We still want more, and nobody considers what could go terribly wrong all in the pursuit for the perfect picture.

In 2007, George Clooney was injured in a motorcycle accident with his girlfriend. Innocent enough. He went to hospital and was treated, but the staff of the hospital deemed it okay to look at his private medical records – because he was a celebrity. Then, when Mr Clooney next decided to go back to riding his motorcycle he found himself being apprehended by paparazzi – speeding paparazzi – all aiming for that perfect shot. As he put it, “What they’re doing is illegal…It’s high-speed chases and they’re competing with each other. They’re not trying to catch me doing something stupid, they’re trying to create me doing something stupid. You don’t get to break all these laws and then say, ‘I’m just doing my job.”’ So soon after what could have been a tragic accident his life was at risk – for a photograph.

We criticise celebrities for running red lights but what the media don’t show us is the 8 or 9 cars following them. We’re not saying that every illegality a celebrity commits has paparazzi to blame. It doesn’t. But certainly in a lot of cases, we are only seeing one half of the story – the photographers half, the half they want you to see, and not the circumstances that led up to the accident or illegality or simply annoyed expression on their target’s faces.

What we don’t see is the children of these celebrities being mobbed, being screamed at just as loudly as their parents (sure, you say, the parents “chose” this life, but what about their offspring?), and in a lot of cases begging back that they stop (Suri Cruise on multiple occasions has expressed distress at the photographers that follow her and her parents around), so what about the psychological damage? What about the fear of never leaving the house lest someone captures you in a vulnerable moment?

Be it a physical or an psychological ailment, the paparazzi can be responsible for a lot more than celebrities just looking bad. So the next time you smile or roll your eyes at a photograph in a magazine or a newspaper or one of those gossip sites on the web – consider the other side. Is endangering anyone – no matter their career, no matter their status, social, financial or otherwise – really worth a few pictures that we’ll forget about in a day or two? Is it?

Just something to think about.

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Photographing people at their most vulnerable.

“It was obviously an unfortunate incident. It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that we live in an age when someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment and rather than delete it, and do the decent thing, sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants, which takes us back to ‘Les Mis,’ because that’s what my character is.”

Anne Hathaway recently had the misfortune of being photographed as she had a revealing wardrobe mishap at a movie premiere, and this is the response she had to being asked about it. Here we can see that the paparazzi are even more invasive and inconsiderate of the privacy of others - showing them at their most vulnerable, before they even realise the 'mistake' they've made in time to rectify it.

If you think the paparazzi need to 1) leave celebrities alone in their private lives 2) respect the privacy and dignity of their subjects please check out our project and sign our petition. It doesn't take a lot to respect someone...but it means a lot when you do.

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Don't forget to sign our petition!

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Check out our post on Emma Stone and why we stand for the protection of privacy of all. 

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A project for everyone's right to privacy, including Emma Stone's.

I think a few people have been led to believe that we at the JL Privacy Project only care about Jennifer Lawrence’s privacy and only want the paparazzi to leave her alone. This is not the case. We find the paparazzi in its entirety to be abhorrent, and every single invasion of privacy of anyone sickens us. But today in particular I want to talk about another victim of paparazzi behaviour: Miss Emma Stone.

Emma Stone is easy to love. We “met” her through Superbad, The House Bunny, Zombieland and Easy A and since then she’s played some pretty incredible roles including Skeeter in The Help and more recently Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s revamp of everybody’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Unfortunately, with success and fame comes a price and no longer is Emma simply an actress to watch: she’s the new ‘It’ girl, and the media is making sure we see what she’s up to all the time.

Now, I love Emma Stone. I love seeing her latest trends on the red carpet; I love laughing at her interviews and being overwhelmed by her humble charm. But I do not need to see her exiting restaurants, going through airport security, taking a walk with her boyfriend – I just don’t. Sure, they’re cute to look at, but have you ever considered behind the scenes of these moments? I have. In fact, it’s part of the reason I started this project, besides Jennifer Lawrence’s statements outlining her life being negative altered by paparazzi behaviour, I saw a video. I saw a video of Emma Stone and her boyfriend being stalked by the paparazzi. Begging them to go away. I’ve seen pictures of Emma looking on the verge of a panic attack – and why wouldn’t she be? The idea of being followed by strangers with giant cameras and sneaky moves terrifies my imagination: imagine if it was your reality. And we know that Emma Stone is an anxiety sufferer. She’s spoken about it before. So doesn’t this just further prove how outrageous, careless and downright cruel paparazzi photography can be? People know how much this upsets her and yet keep buying the magazines, as “fans”, so that they can catch a glimpse of her candidly?

Our celebrity loves; be they actresses, actors, singers, comedians, dancers, authors, etc., give us a lot. They lighten our lives with their performances; give us escapism in the form of music, movies and more. They do not owe us insights into their private lives. If you want to see what awesome clothes they wear, check out the red carpet specials. If you want to know about what they like to do in their spare time, wait for it to come up in an official interview. It’s just not right to expect these ridiculous amounts of information about anyone. Everyone should have a right to privacy. To walk freely with their loved ones without worrying about the rumours that will be spread the very next day.

If you truly admire someone: respect them. Let them live their lives. Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone are two people I admire, who inspire me, who inspired my co-founding of this project, and for that reason I choose to boycott paparazzi photography and publications that opt to share these forms of media: and ask that you do the same.

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Please don't forget to sign our petition and make your voice heard. 

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Jennifer in Hawaii - and still followed by paparazzi

Everyone knows that Jennifer Lawrence is in Hawaii to complete the second half of Catching Fire filming. In order to do that over the holidays, her entire family is there to celebrate with her. She’s mentioned this in several interviews.

Today, new paparazzi pictures have emerged of her and HER ENTIRE FAMILY while relaxing together. Look, there are two things that we want to point to that make this really unacceptable, other than the more general, but still true invasion of her privacy.

1. I guess there’s almost a lackadaisical reaction when Jennifer gets paparazzi following her in LA. It’s still extremely wrong but I think people are desensitized to that happening at this point. However, the fact that it is now following her to Hawaii, where she is there to work on a project, makes us at The JL Privacy Project extremely sad and angry. Will there be anywhere paparazzi won’t follow her now?

2. Her family, including her little nephew, are in most of the pictures. I think we can all agree that families in general should be off-limits as they just try to spend their time with loved ones. She has so little time with them in general that this invasion into private family time is even more horrific.

In other words, we want to tell the paparazzi...leave Jennifer alone to do her job and to spend time with her family.

Draw a line somewhere, if you’re too immoral to not draw the line when she’s living her regular life.

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Don't forget to sign our official petition here. 

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Here's our new, official poster! Please reblog/share it and help us spread the message of our project.

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Walking in Someone Else's Shoes.

You go grocery shopping. You walk your dog. You meet your friends, your mother, your boyfriend or girlfriend for lunch. You go to the movies. You do normal things that normal people do. But something about this isn’t normal:

You find yourself struck by the feeling you are being followed, being watched, being monitored. But this is not some horror movie premise. There are no police you can call. They are the paparazzi. They are doing their job. This is perfectly legal. But that doesn’t make you feel any less afraid.

Sadly, this is a reality for many celebrities.  What we as a society take for granted, running errands, being social with our family and friends, becomes impossible.  And it simply is not fair.

This is why we have started the JLPP. Because no one, no matter their profession, their ‘social status’ or their circumstance, should have to fear being followed all for a few photos. And who wants to see these photos anyway? Our idols, our inspirations, look miserable. They beg, they plead for privacy. And it goes ignored. Why? Because of money. Because of magazine sales and website views. So that we as “fans” can follow their every move. Well, I no longer consider people who support the paparazzi as “fans”. If you truly idolise, admire, and respect someone: you allow them to live their lives in peace. And that means protesting the paparazzi, boycotting publications that utilise their photography, and defending the basic right of being able to leave your house without being swarmed by photographers and blinded by camera flashes.

So where do you start? Firstly, sign our petition: giving us strength in numbers. We need to be able to approach publications and sites that use paparazzi images and show them the figures of people who will boycott them unless they cease. Follow our Twitter, our Tumblr, for updates. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have them. Because you are the fans. You have the ability to say “enough is enough!” and make a real difference. You matter. You can make this a success.

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Our idols, our inspirations, look miserable. They beg, they plead for privacy. And it goes ignored. Why? Because of money.

Sneak peek from this week's new post, coming this Wednesday!

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I just found this is the Jennifer tag- and I gotta say, it's so sweet and awesome you guys are doing this! Seriously, I thought the Josh/Jen/THG fandoms were great to begin with, but this just makes everything so much better. I admit, I do like celebrity candid pictures, but then I remember that "real" candids are the ones a celebrity takes and puts on their Twitter/Facebook page, or pictures they take with fans. Love what you guys are doing and LOVE this project! :)

Thank you so much for following us and supporting our project. We all love photos of our favourite celebrities, we just want to ensure that those photographs aren't captured at the expense of their privacy. Again, thank you so much and stay tuned for more updates! 

[missdanvers]

if you guys haven’t followed this blog already you really should. it’s not even about just Jen it’s about every other celebrity that are being or have been stalked/victimized by paparazzi.

Yes, it’s a part of being famous and any actress/actor would be well aware but there also should be...

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Thank you, truly. You are exactly right. This isn't just about Jennifer, she's merely one of the more open about how it's affected (and endangered) her lifestyle. She's also incredibly relevant to audiences today, so we wanted her to be that someone to symbolise our project. (And of course, we adore her.)

Your support (and that of anyone who opts to sign on after reading your post) is greatly, and wholeheartedly, appreciated. 

If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to either submit a question or email us. This is a fan driven project. Your opinions matter.