Mailbag for October 20, 2023

Justin's "Douche Canoe" PR, Jada's book, couple thirst nostalgia, skirting and scabbing, Ormond's lawsuit, and Travis Kelce for SMA?

(Photos: John Salangsang/ Matt Baron/BEI/ Greg Allen/ Larry Marano/Shutterstock)

Dear Squawkers,

Britney Spears has been the big story this week, and next week, when her memoir, The Woman in Me, comes out, she’ll continue to be a major headline. I mentioned this in one of the Britney threads that we posted earlier this week and in my article about the abortion – we really should read the entire book to appreciate the context of all these reveals and… once we do read the book, I want to do a live chat, our first! How do we feel about this? Please let us know in the comments below. And also let us know how long we should wait for the live chat. Like a week? Two weeks? Help us set the schedule!

OK, let’s dig into the mailbag.

Question from Jocelyn Shuman :

As per @Meaghan's suggestion from the "Justin Timberlake is getting dragged" convo, can Lainey or Sarah speak to the question of how much sway a celebrity's PR team actually has over which statement goes out to the public? I'm sure it's different for every celebrity, but JT specifically seems to either be surrounded by "douche-canoes" and yes men, or he simply refuses to listen to anyone offering him alternative statements. How much involvement would the PR team actually have in crafting these responses? Especially when these comments are coming from "a source" rather than a comment published on social media platforms.

Answer from Lainey:

When a “source” story is placed in PEOPLE or Entertainment Tonight or even TMZ, presumably it’s someone from the celebrity’s team making contact with the outlet. Like Justin Timberlake is not, himself, texting the media with a quote. It’s the members of his team who would have the media in their contacts on their phone.

I work with a lot of great communications experts, I respect what they do, so I want to be fair to them. The ones I know respect the media and understand their value. The publicists who work with the stars have a hard job. They’re handling the egos of very sensitive people who are often impatient and who have been insulated in a circle-jerk environment where the more famous they get, the less exposure they have to reality. And when their friends are also celebrities, it can be a challenge presenting them with an outside perspective.

Justin Timberlake attends the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Gala on October 8, 2022 (Photo: John Salangsang/Shutterstock)

In addition to the publicists, there are also managers and friends and family and other members of the entourage, and they, too, can, on occasion, be sources and leak information. Sometimes they’re acting on the direction of the celebrity; sometimes they go rogue and think leaking is in the best interest of the star. You’ll recall, just a few weeks ago, it was someone from the Joe Jonas camp passing on information to TMZ and other outlets about Joe filing for divorce – and implying that Joe was the primary parent and Sophie Turner wasn’t present for her children. Which backfired.

Joe eventually distanced himself from those comments and claimed he had nothing to do with it. And if we’re being generous and giving him the benefit of the doubt, sure, maybe a member of his team did not get his signoff before talking sh-t in the media.

The “source” quote that was provided to Entertainment Tonight the other day about how Justin Timberlake was focusing on his own family and wanted everyone to “grow and evolve” had the same energy as what Team Joe Jonas was doing. Was Justin aware of it? I mean we’ll never know for sure but in my opinion, definitely. There is no way his phone wasn’t blowing up all day when the abortion story came out. And his publicist and his manager’s phones, too. Someone in his camp is briefing – and is continuing to brief. Given the sensitivity of the situation and how big of a star Britney is, in my opinion there is no way he wouldn’t have been looped in.

As for the wording of it? From my experience, no communications professional would want to stand next to that statement. It’s f-cking amateur hour. But then again, this seems to be happening more and more (hello Ashton and Mila) because of the intense fear of cancellation. I mean, I’ve been there, and it can feel like the world is closing in on you. For celebrities especially, though, because their worldview is so narrow, and they’re so self-involved to begin with (and no one is more self-involved than fucking Justin Timberlake), the cancellation crisis probably becomes all-consuming. “Everyone is talking about me! Everyone hates me!” And that’s a motivating factor for not taking the time to really think through a response – or just not responding to begin with.

It's an interesting modern development that’s been on my mind a lot lately because part of what we do at LaineyGossip is media and culture analysis: the impact that the anxiety over imagined cancel culture is having on celebrity and communication strategy. I say “imagined” cancel culture because, as we have covered extensively on LaineyGossip, very, very, very few people have been cancelled. The non-cancellations greatly outnumber the cancellations. Louis CK won a Grammy last year. But in Hollywood over the last few years, cancellation has become the boogeyman, a monster that doesn’t really exist. When you are reacting to something that doesn’t really exist, or when you grossly exaggerate a problem, your ability to properly address that problem is compromised.

Question from Ree-Ree:

Your take on Jada Pickett Smith’s book promotion tour, and her choices of outlets. A lot of in-depth interviews and diverse reactions to it all.

Lainey’s Answer:

There were a few questions about Jada this week and the first thing I want to say about this is that I really, really, really don’t like this trend of basically revealing the contents of the entire book before the book comes out. Like what’s left to know at this point?! This is not just Jada, this was also what happened when Prince Harry’s book came out and what was missed with all that noise is how well-written Spare is, what a great job JR Moehringer did writing in Harry’s voice. And how the writing itself adds context to the memories and the experiences that are shared in the book. So this isn’t just a matter of the choice of outlets for Jada (to me it seemed pretty standard, there was a junket, we got her, too, for ETALK), it’s the whole operation with book publishing right now. Does this work? In Harry’s case, um, yeah. He set a record with his book. In Jada’s case, I’ll be interested in seeing the numbers.

As a reader, though, and also a member of the media, this is concerning to me. From a reader’s perspective, I just think it’s that much more of a pure experience when you prioritise reading an entire work to get a sense of how each story fits into a larger narrative. My favourite celebrity memoir of the last few years is Jessica Simpson’s Open Book – it’s juicy but it’s also not just a clump of gossipy events and recollections. There’s connective tissue there. There are non-headline-making details that paint an overall picture of her life and history that relate to the gossipy bits and why she reacted a certain way to them and how they played out. All of this is missed when people just get the heatscore items and skip the whole read.

And then from the reporting perspective – gossip, like hard news, is already being contaminated by a lack of information hygiene. So many people these days are like, oh, this happened, and this person is doing this, because I saw it on TikTok, and I just want you to picture me punching my own face over and over right now. I am a crusader for good gossip! And not reading a book and only learning about it from whatever bullshit website or TMZ or TikTok is bad for gossip!

But to go back to Jada and your questions about what I think of what she’s shared and her relationship with Will and the reactions to it…

From what I’ve seen and from the people around me, she’s getting a lot of hate. The most common take, at least in my feeds, is “why does this woman insist on humiliating her husband?” Which … like… I know Jada can be a LOT, but characterising her oversharing as an embarrassment for Will is not it. And it’s teasing at a lot of misogyny and adherence to traditional gender roles that makes me uncomfortable.

This is what we wanted, isn’t it? For YEARS – and you would know if you’ve been visiting LaineyGossip – there have been rumours about this relationship. Now we know. Do we know too much? Is that the lesson here?

Will and Jada were an illusion for a long time, just like so many high-profile Hollywood relationships. Jada is now admitting to lying, she’s in the process of blowing up that illusion. People are mad at her and they’re accusing her of disrespecting him. But isn’t part of this also a little bit of be careful what you wish for? It’s the crumbling of the illusion and our fascinating contract with celebrities, where we practically demand to know the truth and then when the truth actually comes out, we almost want to shove it back into the box.

Question from Charlotte:

For Sarah - which actors are the most egregiously skirting the lines or even outright scabbing?

Sarah’s answer:

Justin Timberlake isn’t skirting the line, he is full-on scabbing. He’s making appearances and talking about Trolls, such as on Hot Ones, and even his unnamed sources are highlighting his focus on Trolls amidst Britney Spears coming for his ass in her memoir. It’s a struck movie yet every time his name comes up literally regardless of context he’s getting Trolls out there, front and center. Scab!

As for skirting, pretty much anyone showing up at screenings for other stuff, like Emma Stone doing a Q&A with Yorgos Lanthimos for their non-struck short film. No one said “Poor Things” at the event, but like…we all know why they’re REALLY there. It’s technically okay, but also, it’s happening specifically to make us think about the thing they can’t talk about.

Also, and this kills me because I’m a huge fan, but the podcast How Did This Get Made? is on tour right now, and I’m really not sure how. They just did a live show featuring 2002’s Rollerball, which was distributed by Buena Vista—that’s Disney—and it was produced by MGM. That’s struck work! It’s strange because hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas have all been very visible on picket lines throughout both strikes. Paul Scheer, a former WGA board member, was so involved he was part of the group one DGA member urged other members NOT to vote for in a board election this summer. I don’t quite get what they’re doing making new episodes right now? Some of the films they’re covering are indies that might be outside AMPTP (the exact membership of that group is a secrety secret), but some definitely are struck.

Question from JC:

Gossip nostalgia? Is there a past couple we thirsted for like we are with Taylor and Travis? Where he publicly and openly pursued her? Drake has had his share of public gestures in pursuit of women but his version hits different than this...

Lainey’s Answer:

You know the celebrity couple that instantly popped in my mind? Totally different, energy, I’m not saying that this nostalgia couple is in ANY WAY as horny as Taylor and Travis, but I just meant the publicness of it and our collective obsession with, again with an entirely different vibe …

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, LOLOLOLOL forever.

Like, maybe you weren’t around back then, or maybe you’ve just forgotten, but as much as Taylor and Travis are a show? And a really, really good show at that, Tom and Katie, aka TomKat, were also a show we couldn’t get enough of. You might have been laughing, we were all laughing, but you couldn’t look away. It was a media frrrrrrennnnzzyyyy – and they were encouraging it. There are even a few shots of Taylor and Travis from last weekend, like when they were leaving dinner on Sunday night, where he has one of her hands in one of his and the other hand around her back, that kind of have the air of Tom “presenting” Katie from back in the day.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes attend the 79th Annual Academy Awards Vanity Fair Party on February 25, 2007 (Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)

Anyway, the TomKat thirst, like I said, was of another DNA, but it was still thirst. Pure gossip thirst. Gossip blogs exploded around that time – and coverage of them was one of the reasons.

For the good old fashion sex thirst though, it’s super sad to say now but a lot of us felt that way about Brange. They were so fucking hot together in Mr & Mrs Smith and in those early years of their relationship, the way they stepped out together – if you remember, Brad also did the thing that Travis did last weekend, waving off security to open the door for Angelina himself. I watched it happen several times with my own eyes. They were dripping horny, and there were crazy gossip stories about their chemistry, like that report that they were fucking so loud one night in Kenya that people thought it was animals let loose. Unless you were Team Aniston, I know you felt that, too. So I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you about the cultural obsession with Brange. The moment they became real, it was two supernovas colliding: Hollywood’s matinee idol and Hollywood’s bad-girl-gone-good. They were the first couple of Hollywood for over a decade…and then we found out what he did on the plane and… well… speaking of illusions, there’s one that we watched implode in real time.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend 'The Good Shepherd' film premiere in New York on December 11, 2006 (Photo: Greg Allen/Shutterstock)

Here's another sad one, and I apologise for bringing the mood down. But when Rihanna and Chris Brown were together? Trust me, that was a big thirst moment in the culture too. They were young, on top of the world, SO beautiful – social media then wasn’t what it is now, but when I look back at the photos of those two, and you can google this, of them kissing, dancing at a club, waiting at a fast food joint for their food, if TikTok and Instagram etc were around in their time, there would also have been a meltdown, they were everybody’s favourite… until he fucked it all up.  

Chris Brown, Rihanna and Lil Mama on set filming 'Shawty Get Loose' in Miami on December 28, 2007 (Photo: Larry Marano/Shutterstock)

And before someone out there gets mad at me – to be clear, I am NOT glorifying abusive relationships. I am going back in gossip history and telling you what people BACK THEN were feeling about these couples before all the ugly shit happened.

Sarah’s answer:

Tom Holland and Zendaya! The internet practically willed them into romantic existence!

Question from Daniela:

I'd like to read Lainey's thoughts about Julia Ormond lawsuit against Harvey and especially CAA.

Sarah’s answer:

Lainey didn’t take this one on but I will.

For those who haven’t seen, Julia Ormond is suing Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery, and agency CAA and Disney as “enablers of sexual assault”.

I am SUPER interested to see how far she gets with this. Coming out of #MeToo, there was very little accountability of agencies, studios, and management companies that may have known, or even suspected, that Harvey Weinstein was a predator. A lot of people felt failed by their representatives, people whose job is supposed to be to protect them professionally, and yet they felt “fed to the lions”, as one woman put it to me several years ago. I don’t think Julia will have much trouble making a case against Harvey, but holding the corporate entities who protected him accountable…I am rooting for her, but realistically, I just don’t know that she’ll get that far. That’s a big, powerful machine to take on—a machine that already survived #MeToo. I hope she does, though. I hope she charts a course for other people to seek recompense from companies that willingly fed them to the lions.

Question from Charlotte:

Travis Kelce - odds for Sexiest Man Alive? Is it too late for this year?

Lainey’s Answer:
Charlotte? I’m screaming. Thank you for this.

Should Travis Kelce be the Sexiest Man Alive? We’re four weeks into the public phase of their relationship, so if PEOPLE actually names him the SMA, it would be for Taylor. The biggest flex for Taylor Swift, that she can basically anoint the Sexiest Man Alive.

As we all know, one of the conditions of the SMA has to be a photo shoot and an interview. Travis would be game for both. He would accept the invitation and he’d have fun with it the way he’s been having fun through this circus so far. So, sure, on paper he’s a good candidate.

Could it actually happen? Like what are the chances? We should probably never count out Taylor Swift so, I’ll give it 20-1 odds which are better than so many other people who want to be the SMA but if it’s Travis, that would be three white Sexiest Men Alive in a row, after Paul Rudd and Chris Evans. PEOPLE says it cares about diversity so in those planning and selection meetings, this should have come up. And if they do go with a white dude, I feel like there might be a few white dudes who might hold up better since, um, like what if by Christmas, Taylor and Travis aren’t a thing anymore? I hope not, I hope we get a lot more time out of these two, but that’s a major factor. PEOPLE doesn’t want to gamble on an SMA whose claim to it is primarily the fact that he’s dating a global superstar.  

And I wonder if PEOPLE will gamble on an SMA who plays for one team. Like, I get it that the NFL is all up in their business and the broadcasters love it but he’s a member of one team in a league of, what, like over 30 teams? What are team allegiances like for the MiniVan Majority across professional American football teams? Will it turn off some hardcore Packers fan to see him on the cover of PEOPLE at the grocery store? Sports people get real fucking weird about loyalties. I see it all the time in my own house. One day I joked to Jacek, who is all about Tottenham Hotspur, that I was going to buy a Chelsea kit and he told me he would burn it. I’m not sure PEOPLE wants to single out a player from one team at the risk of annoying all the fans of other teams.

I’ll have more thoughts on the Sexist Man Alive in an upcoming newsletter.

Sarah’s answer:

Just butting in to say that while Taylor is UNQUESTIONABLY raising Travis’s profile…he’s already hugely famous in NFL/sports circles. That’s the Minivan Majority. So even if he and Taylor are done by Christmas—please no! Let’s get a Super Bowl out of this, at least!—he’d still be a solid pick as America’s dude sweetheart.

Before we wrap it up, you might recall in last week’s mailbag we talked about Duana and how she’s so busy showrunning and directing these days but we weren’t allowed to say more. The press release just came out yesterday though so now we can tell you.

You can read the full press release here that includes a quote from Duana and a synopsis of Near or Far which premieres next spring! We are SO FUCKING PROUD OF HER. And by the way, she wraps in November and she’s saying she wants to squawk as soon as she’s done. We’ll try to get her into the Britney memoir live chat because if Duana is an expert at anything, it’s the celebrity memoir.

Thanks so much for supporting us here at The Squawk! Does it feel like since we launched here the gossip this fall has been as jacked and juiced as it’s been in a while? Thanks to all of you for bringing the gossip energy this way!

Keep squawking, keep gossiping,

Lainey and Sarah