Comments of the week: drug charges and smack talk

Sure, sure. The Emmys were Sunday. And we all could have weighed in on, say, "Mad Men's" Rich Sommer and Michael Gladis' pick-up tips or if the Emmys should go 3-D. But isn't it more fun to concentrate on the scandals?

This week in celebrity drug-charges news, people got way opinionated about Paris Hilton's and boyfriend Cy Waits' weekend arrest in Vegas (she for suspicion of possession of cocaine, he for DUI) after police smelled marijuana coming from their car -- even debating the merits of her "oh, this isn't mine" alibi and offering little sympathy when a spokesperson for Las Vegas' Wynn and Encore hotels fired Waits from his job as managing partner of the properties' nightclubs and banned Hilton from staying at those hotels. Oh no, where will the hotel heiress possibly stay next time she's in town?

PREACH IT! Mel Gibson isn’t sorry, never was, end of story

Four years ago, when Mel Gibson got arrested for drunken driving and delivered the anti-Semitic rant heard 'round the world, he took his time delivering his mea culpas. A day after his arrest, he issued a vague apology, but it was aimed largely at the cops who arrested him. It barely addressed the millions of others he offended by opining that Jews are "responsible for all the wars in the world."

Three days after that, Gibson finally got around to the Jewish community.


"The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life," he intoned. "Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith."

Cynics (and maybe one or two clear thinkers) blew him off. But many, many more people didn’t. Apologists flocked to comments boards worldwide, proclaiming that it was time to leave the poor guy alone, that some jerks in the media would never be satisfied, that he clearly had suffered enough.

Most importantly, defenders insisted, the apology really so totally proved that Gibson is so, so not a bigot, and all you "haters" -- because anyone who continued to question Gibson couldn’t possibly have reasonable reasons to do so -- could just sit down and shut up.

Cut to 2010. A brand-new, even more bigoted rant from Gibson ...

Comments of the week: International conspiracy theory and Twitter quitter edition

Where was the action this week at the Ministry of Gossip? The winner when it comes to sheer volume of comments has to be Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton, whose arrest on a cocaine-related charge elicited lots of outrage and opinions that the sting -- which the DEA says is backed by video and audio tapes -- is part of a gay conspiracy. 

The content of the comments is pretty voluminous too.

Back in Jamaica, fans maintained the Grammy nominee's innocence, even after hearing about video and audio tapes the DEA says it has. Comments have flooded in -- and keep coming -- on last Sunday's original Ministry post, but a follow-up post Monday with more details on the case has gone pretty much untouched.

(The Ministry has learned a lot of Jamaican patois this week, let me tell you. Buju's story also wins the MOST COMMENTS IN ALL CAPS prize. That one's not so coveted, by the way. WE CAN HEAR YOU in little letters too.)

And here's a question on many readers' minds this week: Why is the Ministry hating on Chris Brown? The answer is, we are not hating on Chris Brown...

So about that whole 'comments of the week' thing ...

Some of the folks who've been hanging around the Ministry of Gossip since the early days might remember a quiet little post about "comments of the week" -- a feature I'd intended to do on a regular basis.

Oops, my bad.

Turns you all are really into speaking your minds -- which is, believe me, fantastic -- but it's also meant that keeping up on individual comments has been more challenging than I'd imagined. There are a lot of 'em!

I can't do justice to the original concept, so instead I'll direct folks to where the action was in the week (or two) prior.

Click onward for the links, and thanks for spending time at the Ministry.

The Ministry of Gossip's comments of the week

The Ministry of Gossip loves comments, so each week we're going to highlight a handful that stood out to us for one reason or another -- and announce our fave. MOG's debut week has been a short one, but the comments were still bold and beautiful

Here are some opinions of note for the Gossip Week ending Friday, Nov. 20, 2009:

• Soozin weighed in thoughtfully on our post about Johnny Depp's selection as Sexiest Man Alive for 2009: 

I love Johnny Depp as an actor - he's brilliant, but afraid I don't find him sexy (with apologies to one of my dearest friends who would disagree with me vehemently here). I'd like to know where the heck Gerard Butler is on the list - oh, he didn't make it yet again? Boo hiss! I no longer see much validity in People's selections because it seems they are fixated on the same guys over and over - except I was very thrilled to see Adam Lambert make the list. One day I hope to see the true paradigm shift the year Adam makes the cover of this issue.

• So did El Guapo de la cuidad de los angeles, who made us laugh:

I can't believe I'm not on the list.

• MikeOHara's comment on Sharon Stone's topless Paris Match cover pretty much says it all:

If I wanted to see a 51-year-old in bondage togs, I'd visit my mother.

• MOG reader Ron brought a cool fact to our attention in the comments on the "Jason Segel wants to make love to you" post:

He showed up earlier this month during a Maroon 5 concert at St. John's University doing the same thing.

Ron, you are correct, and we'd love to embed that video as well, but unfortunately the students at St. John's have a different way of saying "make love." But search "Jason Segel Maroon 5" on YouTube to check it out. The Ministry thinks the sound is more clear on that video, incidentally.

• Commenter dave weighed in on the "Video Phone" post, getting extra points for calling it as he sees it on the eye candy angle:

Song is pretty lame, but lots of eye candy, so it's was worth it, lol. Maybe it's just my preference, but putting them side by side, Lady Gaga couldn't really hold up to beyonce on the hotness meter.

• And commenting about Chris Brown's probation progress, we heard from MOG reader nope. The Ministry played it light on that post, and nope lobbied against the snark.

So, the commenters must be over 13. Are the writers of the the article over this age???
1) "Talked and laughed" with lawyer. I guess this is to make it seem like he's taking this as a joke, right? Project much??
2) Riri also said she likes his music and misses him still. I guess that didn't fit w/ the tone of the article. Snark much?
3) No, CB probably won't be attending any awards shows for a while, but guaranteed, he won't be down forever.

Of course, most stories have more than one point of view -- thanks for giving us yours! And yeah, the Ministry is tragically older than 13. Good for getting into bars, not so good for getting out of bed in the morning. 

The winner and fabulous prize are after the jump.