Access & Negress

"Coloured" TV's most famous mouth sees things in black and white to preserve the colour purple of her assumed regality.

A new book that attempted to get behind the public persona discovered that, like FuelMix, She is prone to refer to herself in the third person.  The book is gaining notoriety not so much for its content, but for the wall of silence from the talking heads of the major TV networks in God's Own Country fearful of offending Her.

It's truly pathetic on several levels. So what if the book portrays Her in less than flattering terms? Or presents Her as a master opportunist alleged to have manipulated the story of Her origins? The author may have forgotten that many politicians and heads of state did exactly the same thing in order to create a cult following who would hang onto their every word.  Heck, there's even a controversy swirling right now about President Mutt* 44's true place of birth.

The delineation of privacy by public personas necessitates pretty strong action - like confidentiality agreements that run forever, running to court, paying off those who might talk, outright intimidation against those who just can't take a hint,  managed press conferences, stints in rehab. Is it a dirty business? Probably, but it's been done for eons.  And there's plenty of movie stars, sports legends, corporate execs, scummy politicians, talk show hosts and other wannabes doing it - or probably ruing the fact they didn't think of something earlier.

For a country that shrieks long and hard about freedoms in the Home of the Brave, to see some of the highest paid TV farts zip up and curl up in a foetal position to avoid publicizing the book about Her, is not only an indictment of their personal cowardice, but a reflection that the "free press" which they tout is anything but.

*Mutt = his own word to describe himself.

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