Sorta OT: What A Piehole

[lazypadawan]

Remember Jason Biggs, the guy who became famous for meretricious relations with a pie among other things in those nasty “American Pie” flicks? He is among the voice talent for Nickelodeon’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” show, which debuts on September 29.

But that’s not what is drawing attention to the former pastry fornicator these days. I always say that if I were a Hollywood agent or publicist, I would make damn sure my clients stayed off of social media unless somebody with half a brain and is sober 24/7 was making posts for them. Unfortunately for Biggs, he has a Twitter account as does his wife, an alleged actress who doesn't seem to have done much besides obsess over sex toys (getting herself kicked off of Instagram in the process) and write pieces online about how she hired a hooker to help spice up her not-that-long marriage. Biggs posted some truly misogynistic, disgusting things. When I say disgusting, I mean it. They are VILE. I will not repost them here and while the actor has deleted the offensive Tweets from his account, I have seen the screencaps. The internet is forever. The Mrs. also made some really nauseating comments about eighth grade girls and their um, body parts concerning the Teen Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon, seemingly unaware of the kind of posts Biggs and his wife were making on Twitter, linked to his account in a Tweet about TMNT. I realize TMNT has an adult and teenage fan base, but there are kids who love them too. I’ll just reiterate that Biggs’s posts were appalling enough to me and I’m 43. Could you imagine a 10-year-old being exposed to that stuff? Oh sure, you might say a kid that young shouldn’t be on Twitter but why would Nickelodeon, a children’s/family network, have a Twitter account if kids weren’t on there? Even if you monitored every Twitter account Junior followed, there’s no reason to think Nickelodeon’s account wasn’t “safe.” Until now.

Now there’s a push to get Nickelodeon to dump Biggs from the show. So far Nickelodeon hasn't taken any action but the Colorado Rockies have dropped plans for a Nickelodeon Night at one of their games. Normally I would say that a performer’s personal opinions and his personal life are his business and if we were to make sure we only had kid-appropriate performers we’d actually allow to use our bathrooms at home, the talent pool would be very small indeed. It doesn’t matter unless it goes public, such as an arrest for DUI or driving around with a few kilos of coke in your car. I don’t like to deprive anyone of a livelihood. On the other hand, posting stuff under your own name on the internet IS making your personal life public and frankly, it’s stupid for a children’s network to associate with someone like that.

I follow all of the Clone Wars main players on Twitter. I think they realize they are ambassadors for the show, even with Matt Lanter’s other commitments on “90210." They know how important the show is to us and the importance of the Star Wars brand. They are more aware of it than even the folks who were in the movies (cough, cough). I can tell you they've never posted anything in the league of what Jason Biggs posted.

So in conclusion, I say, “Watch Clone Wars on September 29 instead!” Yay!

Comments

[phantommenaceholiday (from livejournal.com)]

LP, until you tweeted about this today, I hadn't even heard about it--but once I searched out his tweets, I was pretty disgusted. Aside from his and his wife's inherent scumminess, that Nickelodeon would be so clueless as to link to it is breathtakingly stupid...did whoever linked it even *look* at it first?? Yeah, it's America--free speech, blah blah blah--but you also have to live with the consequences of what you say, and though I wouldn't say this if he was on the Howard Stern Show or something adult-oriented like that (as much as I might find his tweets repulsive), Nickelodeon should replace him ASAP. Like most animation, I'm sure most of the first season of the new TMNT is in the can already, but I could easily see a boycott brewing once this story spreads even more. I can't imagine parents of *any* political inclination being comfortable with their kids watching a project this guy is associated with.

I loved the original black-and-white TMNT comic books when I was a kid, and even though I thought as a 15 year-old that the 80's cartoon was just too dumbed-down and kiddified for me to deal with, I still have a lot of affection for the characters...so it's a shame to see their potential comeback marred by a C-list actor like Jason Biggs. I guarantee not a single kid will give a damn if Jason Biggs is swiftly replaced by one of the many talented voice actors out there; I don't know why he was cast in the first place in a reboot that seems primarily focused on appealing to kids, as opposed to something that would draw in older fans, too (and if that's what Nickelodeon was hoping to do by casting him, it would've been easier and cheaper to cast more actors from the original cartoon).

And definitely bravo to The Clone Wars cast, I'm always impressed by how they carry themselves publicly and with fans.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

I had a friend in college who was also a fan from the time it was a little black and white underground comic. She even collected TMNT merch.

[metaraymek.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, posting stuff under your own name on the internet IS making your personal life public and frankly, it’s stupid for a children’s network to associate with someone like that.

Exactly.

I think this whole imbroglio falls under the saying "Just because you can say something, doesn't mean you always should".

A recent example was when Gilbert Gottfried made some incredibly tasteless jokes about the victims of the tsunami in Japan last year. It was done over Twitter, of course, and after a backlash, AFLAC dumped his ass and replaced him with someone new. They knew associating themselves with him, especially with the stuff he said, was like poison.

Twitter is pretty much a potential pandora's box, depending on who is using it, basically. =/

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

The Gilbert Gottfried thing is a great example. He lost on a big, lucrative gig because of an idiotic Tweet.

Just today I read about celebrities getting bullied on Twitter by haters, some to the point where they've attempted suicide. There's something about social media that brings out the utter worst of the worst in people and they're not even bothering to hide behind online handles anymore.