Discrimination on the red carpet!!!!!!

"Oh my God!" was my reaction tonight at the Movieguide Awards at the Beverly Hilton. You may ask why. In the eight years of working in the entertainment industry, I never thought I'd be blatantly discriminated against. But tonight would change all that. As I was waiting for the red carpet to start with all the other photographers in the photo area with our press badges around our necks, I was singled out by a white rent-a-cop security (all the other photogs around me were caucasian). He came up to me and asked for my press badge. I guess to see if I belonged there. I turned to the photographer to the left of me and said, "What was that all about?" He said, "I don't know. That's weird. He didn't ask for my badge." All of a sudden, another photographer behind me said, "Oh wow! You were just discriminated against."

I shouted out, "Are you serious, was I just discriminated against because of my brown skin? Oh my God, you might be right, I'm the only non-white here in the photo section." The photog behind me said, "Yeah, I think you were. I have to take a picture of you and put it on my blog and talk about it on my site."



I was dumbfounded. The good thing was that I kind of brushed it off and did my job. I really think that this rent-a-cop didn't realize he had singled me out and by singling me out, he had subconsciously discriminated against me. The other photogs and I started to joke about it from saying "Oh, maybe he thinks you're muslim, maybe he thinks you're a trouble maker!" etc, etc....

I am one not to pull the race card but if all these other caucasian photogs said I was discriminated against then maybe I was.

Well I got my last laugh, when he walked into the press room and saw me, I flashed my badge and rent-a-cop just turned away...

Anyways...even though the Movieguide Awards is a faith and value based awards show, I will not be posting any photos from the event especially since I was allegedly discriminated at a show that should be about respect for others which respect was not given me by an overzealous rent-a-cop.

Photographers gunned down by Rambo

After being invited to cover the "Rambo" premiere in Las Vegas that happened last night, the rug was pulled from under photographers who had requested coverage at least a few weeks in advance. The hopes of covering the event were gunned downed due to the fact that the premiere was moved inside the Planet Hollywood Hotel instead of the outside area. Only four photographers were supposedly cleared to cover the event while the majority of photo agencies were left out in the cold. These things happen especially when logistics change for a premiere.

Other than that, it looked like it was a family affair and muscle affair with Sylvester's family attending, our muscled California Governator Arnold and various cast members walking down the blood red carpet.

Sylvester Stallone revises his role as John Rambo. Living in solitude in the jungles of Thailand, Rambo's peaceful existence is shatttered as human rights missionaries search him out to assist them in delivering medical supplies to Burma. However, the missionaries are captured by the Burmese Army and Rambo must decide if he should break through the Burmese war zone and rescue them.

According to my colleague, Angela Dawson, who attended the press junket a few weeks ago, Stallone makes no apologies for "Rambo's" graphic violence. "As we're speaking, people are dying and being tortured in a more brutal fashion than we could ever imagine," Stallone says.


Rambo opens wide today, January 25.


Rambo trailer.

Heigl only likes 1 of the 27 Dresses

It was a cold Monday evening this past January 7, 2008 at The Mann's Village Theater in Westwood, CA. Waiting for the premiere for "27 Dresses" to commence, had my fingers slightly frozen. Imagine the actresses in their opulent dresses, they'd definitely be cold. The first on the carpet was Maria Menounos who at first was not about to take off her coat. With a little coaxing from the event photographers, she finally relented and showed us her beautiful red colored dress. There was a bit of a draft that caused her dress to ride up a bit but she was able to grab hold of her dress before she had a Marilyn Monroe accident.






From then on, we thought that this event would live up to the expectation of a wedding reception. To no avail, for the next half hour, lesser known talent paraded their way on the red carpet. Finally, we had the lovely Judy Greer make her appearance.




Jennifer Love Hewitt made a surprise appearance with her man. No matter what the tabloids say about her figure, she definitely looked faboo.





After much anticipation, 27 women came waltzing down the carpet dresses in the specially made bridesmaid dresses adorned with the movie credits and became the backdrop of the red carpet. For video that was great but for us event photographers, it created a bit of a blur for our background. Once these lovely ladies staked their spots, Miss Heigl or shall I say Mrs. Kelley along with her new husband waltzed on down the carpet with the smiles of a newlywed couple. Dressed in a silver dress adorned with what looked like crystals, Heigl braved the cold weather and smiled the whole time. As for the 27 bridesmaid dresses she wore for the movie, she mentioned that their was only one she enjoyed wearing. Believe it or not, it was a Gone With The Wind inspired dress. She just loved feeling like a southern belle.






Click here to read my Katherine Heigl Q&A