Media
American writer Philip Roth awarded France's 'Legion of Honor'
France has awarded US writer Philip Roth its highest decoration, the Legion d'honneur (Legion of Honor), with the country's foreign minister bestowing the award in New York.
At a ceremony on Friday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, in the Big Apple for the United Nations General Assembly, praised Roth's prolific career as one of the leading men of American letters.
The distinction, first established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 to give recognition to civilians and soldiers, has five degrees and Roth, 80, was given the title of Commander.
"This highest honor is a wonderful surprise," Roth said. Then, speaking in French, he said that he was "absolutely delighted."
Fabius, describing Roth's "huge success" in France, added: "France is giving you back what you have given to my country."
Roth achieved fame with his sexually explicit novel "Portnoy's Complaint" in 1969, and is well known for mining the Jewish-American experience as source material for his work.
He is the author of nearly 30 novels, including "The Humbling" (2009) about an aging actor and erotic desire, and "Nemesis," framed by a 1944 polio epidemic, which was published in 2010.
Roth's numerous US literary prizes include two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, three PEN/Faulkner awards, and the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for "American Pastoral."
Roth, who told a French magazine in 2012 that he would no longer write fiction, said he studied French when he was a teenager but has since forgotten most of it.
The good, the bad and the ugly as fans take a trip to 'Breaking Bad' lands
Breaking Bad has swept the Emmys and gripped millions. Now, as the final episode is shown, the location is making a killing too
It took a while for Albuquerque to embrace Breaking Bad. The depiction of a good man turning evil and unleashing drugs and violence across the city was a bleak showcase. Only after the fourth season, when the show started to win acclaim as a television masterpiece, did this sleepy corner of New Mexico begin boasting about hosting it.
"The drugs and violence were the reasons we didn't have anything to do with it at first," said Megan Ryan, tourism manager of Albuquerque's convention and visitors bureau. "Then we began to see the cult following in the US and abroad, and the awards. It turned a really dark subject into a great tool for awareness and visibility."
The final episode of the AMC show is expected to draw a huge audience today, and fans have been flocking to Albuquerque in their thousands to see where fictional chemistry teacher turned drug lord Walter White and his sidekick, Jesse Pinkman, played out the Emmy-winning drama.
Tourism authorities have set up a website to guide them, and local businesses are offering tours and merchandising spinoffs, including blue confectionery and doughnuts inspired by the ultra-pure, blue crystal meth cooked by the two lead characters.
"Breaking Bad has been amazing for the city. Film tourism is at an all-time high," said Mike Silva, co-owner of ABQ Trolley Co, a tour company whose Breaking Bad location tour is booked out months in advance.
The show's grisly content – throat-cutting, acid baths, junkie overdoses – initially worried the city, but authorities and businesses are now on the bandwagon, said Silva. "Everyone is on board."
The mayor, Richard Berry, said the series highlighted Albuquerque's low-tax, sun-kissed, scenic lure to film and TV productions which have spent $416m in the past four years. The show's creator, Vince Gilligan, has said Albuquerque is a character in the show but viewers knew it did not reflect the real city, said the mayor. "I've never run into anybody that doesn't understand it's a fictional drama."
He indicated the view from his 11th-floor office: tree-lined streets giving way to desert, mountains and a big blue sky. Crime is at its lowest in decades. "There is great quality of life here."
Indeed so. Yet there is no disguising a brittle wariness, a defensiveness, behind the "proud home of Breaking Bad" spiel. For art has to some degree imitated reality. Beyond the shiny civic facade, Albuquerque and other parts of New Mexico suffer all-too-real drug trafficking, addiction, violence and corruption. Cheap, pure heroin together with prescription drugs have fuelled a statewide epidemic of overdoses twice the national average. Depending on the drug – heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine – teen drug use here is double or triple the national average. The drugs are so pure that many can be smoked, yet an estimated 25,000 addicts in the state use needles.
Henrietta, a 62-year-old former addict and convicted drug smuggler who declined to have her surname published, painted a shadowy world of crack houses, prostitution and gang warfare as frightening as anything in Breaking Bad.
"It's a scary life," she said, "because you go into the dark side. It's a cycle, the same thing over and over again. If you're an addict, you're going to take what you can get. If there's no heroin, you take meth. If there's no meth, you take crack cocaine."
Raped as a girl, she ran away from home and used alcohol, pills, crack, meth and heroin to "self-medicate". Henrietta recovered, earned a degree and worked as a social worker before succumbing to addiction again two decades later. She dealt drugs to fund her habit. "I tried meth, but it didn't taste right. I preferred crack."
She moved between the family home, doss houses and the street in a perpetual quest for the next hit, encountering squalor and prostitution. "Women go out to hook to get high and have a place to stay." A cousin who smuggled meth across the border from Mexico consumed it rather than selling it, angering his cartel-linked supplier. "They sent people across and shot him in the head to make an example." He survived, but lost an eye and suffered brain damage.
Henrietta was caught smuggling crack across the border in 2005 and sentenced to 18 years. Released in 2009 to the care of a non-profit group, Crossroads for Women, last week she "graduated" from a four-year treatment and rehabilitation course. "God was looking out for me. I've been given another chance."
Not all are so lucky. Dozens of homeless or incarcerated addicts are waiting for places at two Crossroads centres in Albuquerque. "The need far exceeds our abilities," said Amanda Douglas of Crossroads.
Breaking Bad's depiction of addiction is "sadly realistic", said Deni Carise, an expert in substance abuse treatment with CRC Health Group. "The ease with which Jesse [Pinkman] relapses is very well portrayed."
New Mexico is the second-poorest state in the US, according to census figures, and many at the bottom lack jobs, proper nutrition and healthcare. Low-income neighbourhoods like Albuquerque's Trumbull Village, popularly known as War Zone, are plagued by drug-related shootings. Unlike Walter White's homegrown meth lab, most of the state's meth, heroin and other illegal drugs come via Mexico, which continues to endure horrific violence, with an estimated 80,000 killed since 2006.
And unlike the show's honest cops, some real ones have "broken bad". Angelo Vega, a former police chief of the town of Columbus, has admitted being on the Juárez cartel payroll. Darren White, Albuquerque's public safety director, publicly warned last year that cartels sought officials willing "to go dirty".
Not just police, it turns out. Danny Burnett, a former school supervisor from the town of Carrizozo, was convicted last week of leaking information about a federal investigation into drug and gun smuggling. His wife, Paula, is an assistant US attorney. She has not been charged with any offence.
But Breaking Bad fans visit for the fiction, not the reality, and few are disappointed, according to Silva, whose trolley company does location tours. "They are so excited, they love it all."
They visit the homes of Walter and Jesse, the fast-food restaurant of Walter's nemesis Gus Fring, and the carwash where Walter's wife Skyler launders their money. They also snap up "Bathing Bad" bath salts, lotions and soaps.
With the show due for wider syndication and repeats, Silva expects his Breaking Bad tour to continue for several years. He is crossing his fingers and hoping that a mooted spinoff show featuring Walter's crooked lawyer, Saul Goodman, will go ahead. "That would be awesome for us."
Staff at the Dog House, a greasy spoon featured in several episodes, shrug and smile when fans cluster into the tiny restaurant. "They travel from all over," marvelled Lucille Martinez, an assistant manager. The owner of the house where Jesse lived, a mile up the road, was less enthused by the gawkers. "Most are pretty respectful, but it has become a hassle."
Albuquerque is awash with speculation over how the show will climax today. In bars, cafes and offices, people debate whether Walter will rescue Jesse and kill the neo-Nazis, and whether Jesse will then kill Walter. Asked if he had inside information, Berry, the mayor, shook his head: "Sadly, no."
Despite the nightmare of her own addiction, Henrietta confessed a soft spot for Walter, the tormented, ruthless meth manufacturer played by Bryan Cranston. "He, too, knows suffering."
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2013
Leonard Bernstein's letters reveal he nearly gave up on 'West Side Story'
Leonard Bernstein's hostility towards writer of musical's book almost halted project, newly released correspondence reveals
It is regularly judged one of the best musicals of all time, yet West Side Story, with its famous Leonard Bernstein score, came close to being abandoned before it reached an audience.
A new, comprehensive collection of Bernstein's letters, most of which have never been made public before, will reveal next month that the extent of bad feeling between the composer and the playwright Arthur Laurents put the whole production in serious jeopardy.
The correspondence, to be published by Yale University Press and edited by British musicologist Nigel Simeone, contains a 1949 letter from Laurents to Bernstein that clearly refers to a recent threat by the composer to pull out of the project. "I'm sorry you've decided not to do the show," writes Laurents, who goes on to observe that "hostility had popped up" between them.
West Side Story, which contains the hit songs America and Maria and is now credited with changing the shape of musical theatre, was dropped until friends persuaded the composer to return to it years later.
The British composer Matthew Taylor, who studied with Bernstein, believes there are many reasons to be grateful that the composer changed his mind. "The show is perhaps the culmination of the talents of one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. It transcends genres and, amazingly, although it is based on Shakespeare and set in the 1950s, the music fires up children from all sorts of difficult backgrounds, even today," he said.
Taylor recalls Bernstein enjoying the 30th anniversary of the show in the late 1980s, saying he found it "as fresh as Mozart". "Although this was quite a thing for anyone to say, we had to agree," said Taylor.
The idea for West Side Story dated from 1947 when choreographer Jerome Robbins approached both Bernstein and Laurents about a modern musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. The plot would centre on conflict between the Irish Catholic community and the Jews living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Laurents's first draft was called East Side Story, but Bernstein is thought to have been disappointed by a lack of originality in the themes and to have disagreed with Laurents about whether it should be a piece of lyric theatre, or an operetta, as Bernstein would have preferred. Simeone's book shows that by 1955, however, Bernstein had again committed himself to the musical.
Mediation by Robbins, his great theatrical collaborator, now appears to have been the key to mending the relationship with Laurents, who was later to write the musical Gypsy with composer Jule Styne. The involvement of the young lyricist Stephen Sondheim cemented plans for a story about rival Puerto Rican and Polish-Irish gangs.
Around a third of the correspondence comes from the composer's archive held at the Library of Congress in Washington DC and made available only three years ago. After Bernstein's death in 1990, the family sealed many of his personal documents, but now details of his complex personal and political life, as well as his musical career, will be made public.
The letters show that, although a devoted parent, Bernstein had love affairs with men and attracted the attention of the FBI, while enjoying the celebrity lifestyle of a renowned composer and conductor. His emotional life is laid bare in the letters he exchanged with the musicians to whom he was closest, including fellow composer Aaron Copland. His courtship of the Chilean-American actress Felicia Montealegre was slow, not only because of her acting ambitions, but because of her clear understanding of his sexuality. "You are a homosexual and may never change," she wrote to him in 1952, the year after their wedding. "I am willing to accept you as you are, without being a martyr or sacrificing myself on the LB altar."
"He was a very complicated man," Simeone has said. "That's one of the really intriguing things to emerge from the letters in general are the contradictions, the self doubt – things you don't associate with the public persona of Bernstein."
The composer was not summoned to give evidence to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era, but when he tried to renew his passport in the early 1950s obstacles were repeatedly put in his path. Letters to friends and his brother Burton show how upset he was to find his status as a US citizen officially questioned. In the summer of 1953 he had to send a sworn affidavit to the state department to prove his loyalty to the United States of America. He had to list all the organisations to which he had belonged at any time. Other additions to the history of 20th century musical theatre in Bernstein's letters include details of his interest in making a show about the life of the Argentinian leader Eva Perón, 25 years before Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had their success with Evita.
Marin Alsop, conductor of this year's Last Night of the Proms and a former pupil of Bernstein's, said this weekend that she did not know about the creative differences that put the show at risk: "Bernstein elevated musical theatre to a very sophisticated art form and clearly influenced composers like Stephen Sondheim, giving them courage to bridge the ground between it and opera."
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2013
Gospel according to Bill O'Reilly: Jesus died for your taxes
Bill O’Reilly has described the life and teaching of Jesus in a new book, and it turns out the Messiah is a lot like himself.
The Fox News pundit and frequent writing partner Martin Dugard on Tuesday released Killing Jesus: A History, the latest in their series on doomed historical figures such as John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.
In her review of the book for The Daily Beast, religious history expert Candida Moss said O’Reilly and his co-author seem to suggest that Jesus was killed because of taxes.
"The basic argument of the book is that Jesus died because he interfered with the taxation-heavy Roman revenue stream,” Moss writes. “The reason the Jews eagerly anticipated the Messiah, writes O'Reilly, is, 'When that moment arrives, Rome will be defeated and their lives will be free of taxation and want.'”
Moss, a professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame, notes that most Jews at the time of Jesus were poor and oppressed under the Roman occupation.
She also points out that, under the system that Jesus died protesting, wealthy citizens were exempt from most taxes altogether and non-citizens paid a flat-rate poll tax regardless of income – both of which resemble suggestions by present-day American conservatives.
“It’s not like the Romans did anything obscene like tend to the poor,” Moss notes dryly.
Moss wonders how O’Reilly could have attempted a retelling of Jesus’ life so comprehensive that he repeats some events without covering what she considers to be one his most important messages.
“The single most consistent social teaching in the New Testament is that Christians must support the poor, widows, and orphans, but this hardly gets a mention in Killing Jesus,” Moss writes.
Anti-paparazzi bill backed by Halle Berry now California law
Anti-paparazzi legislation championed by Halle Berry has been signed into California law by state governor Jerry Brown. Put forward by state senator Kevin de León, the bill sought to prevent harrassment of the children of public figures, and Berry testified before the California state assembly in its support.
Senate Bill 606 asked for an increase in penalties for anyone attempting to record or photograph a child because of their parent or guardian's employment in a manner that "seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes" them.
In a statement, the actor expressed her appreciation that the law had been passed. "I started this fight with a great deal of hope and a bit of uncertainty so I cannot express my immense gratitude that Gov. Brown has recognized, and acted to remedy, the plight of children who are tormented because of the identity or prominence of their parents. On behalf of my children, it is my hope that this is the beginning of the end for those overly aggressive paparazzi whose outrageous conduct has caused so much trauma and emotional distress."
In her testimony earlier this year, Berry had told lawmakers: "We're moms here who are just trying to protect our children. These are little innocent children who didn't ask to be celebrities. They didn't ask to be thrown into this game and they don't have the wherewithal to process what's happening. We don't have a law in place to protect them from this."
Fellow actor Jennifer Garner testified alongside Berry, and cited the experience of being stalked as contributing factor. "There are violent, mentally-ill stalkers who can now get close to my kids by simply following mobs of photographers and blending in," she said. "Like the very man who threatened to cut the babies out of my belly. Who was arrested waiting behind our daughter's preschool, standing among the throng of paparazzi. That man is still in prison, but I have no doubt there are others like him still out there."
The measure has passed despite the opposition of the California Newspaper Publishers' Association and the National Press Photographers Association, who expressed concerns over restrictions on newsgathering. De Leon's office countered that the measure is tailored to avoid first amendment concerns, specifying that it is photographer's conduct being targeted, not the act of taking a picture itself.
Soccer-based Colombian soap scores a ratings goooooool
With Colombia's national football team close to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, viewers are tuning in by the millions to a telenovela about their dream team of the 1990s.
The soap opera -- known simply as "La Seleccion" (marketed in English as "Football Dreams, a World of Passion") -- is an undeniable runaway smash hit.
The series focuses on the personal struggles and love stories of the national team's four main players: Carlos "El Pibe" (The Kid) Valderrama, goalkeeper Rene "El Loco" (Madman) Higuita, striker Faustino Asprilla and midfielder Freddy Rincon.
These players formed the backbone of the team that played in World Cup tournaments in Italy in 1990, the United States in 1994, and France in 1998.
"These characters are representative of Colombia, and rich from a dramatic point of view," said series co-director Ricardo Coral.
Valderrama, known for his trademark bushy blond afro, was the team captain and a born leader. Internationally he played for Montpellier in France, Real Valladolid in Spain, and later with US soccer teams.
Higuita, who sported long, curly black hair, was the goalkeeper known for his spectacular "scorpion kick" and for daring forays far from his goal posts. He also played for Real Valladolid, and for Veracruz in Mexico.
Striker Asprilla, a media diva, played internationally in Italy and Britain, while midfielder Rincon, who played for SSC Napoli, Real Madrid and teams in Brazil, was known for his tenacity and determination, Coral said.
Fed up with 'narco-dramas'
Colombian soaps in the past years have focused on the usual fare of steamy love stories as well as "narco dramas" -- stories about the country's decades-long conflict involving drug traffickers, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary forces.
"We wanted to state -- loud and clear -- that Colombia is not only made up of drug traffickers and paramilitary fighters," Coral told AFP.
"We want to change that view and give a fresh one that shows high personal values, hard work, and massive effort, which also represents us."
Coral acknowledges Colombia's dark side, "but we're fed up with seeing it."
The decision to shy away from drug trafficking led producers to cut out a scene in which Higuita meets Colombia's most famous drug lord, the late Pablo Escobar.
Colombian football clubs were soaked with drug money in the 1980s and 1990s, so it was impossible to avoid the topic.
"We mention it, but it's not a main part of the storyline," said Coral, who acknowledged taking some artistic liberties.
"The story is based on their lives, but it's not a fully accurate portrayal. We had to introduce changes to create more tension for dramatic purposes," he said.
Nevertheless there is plenty of humor, and real-life drama worthy of a Garcia Marquez novel -- like the time that Higuita was courting a young woman who turned out to be his half-sister.
"His father shows up and tells him: 'she is your sister, you can't get involved with her,'" Coral said. "It sounds like fiction, but it's true."
Part of the success of the series relies on the physical similarities between the actors and the football stars.
Edgar Vittorino, the actor who portrays Valderrama, said he was terrified to represent a national icon.
People would "love or hate me for the rest of my life because I was portraying their idol," he told AFP.
Vittorino was studying in the United States when he was approached by the series producers. He prepared by buying a blond afro wig in New York and watching videos of Valderrama interviews.
Later he visited the neighborhood where Valderrama grew up, in the northern coastal city of Santa Marta, and spent an afternoon with the football great.
"Every year there was a telenovela about narcotrafficking and violence. Now, not just parents, but children too, can sit down and watch this show," Vittorino said.
The first part of the series ends with the 5-0 blowout Colombia dished out to Argentina in Buenos Aires in a 1993 World Cup qualifying match, and with players visiting Higuita in prison, where he spent six months for helping negotiate the release of a friend's kidnapped daughter.
The prison sentence meant that Higuita missed the 1994 World Cup tournament in the United States.
Filming for the second part of the series begins in early 2014, and will take the team through the qualifying round and into the 1998 World Cup in France.
Watch a scene from "La Selección," posted by Caracol TV, below.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos: Print newspapers could become 'luxury'
Amazon chief executive and new Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos said Wednesday that print newspapers could one day become a luxury item.
"Some day, I don't know how many years in the future -- it could be decades -- but I think printed newspapers on actual paper may be a luxury item," Bezos told NBC in an interview.
"People still have horses but it's not their primary way of commuting to the office," Bezos added.
Bezos was questioned on whether he envisions a day when the Washington Post, which he bought in August, is no longer printed.
The Amazon founder shook up the media world when he announced last month the $250 million purchase of the Post, ending decades of control by the Graham family that included the newspaper's history-changing coverage of the Watergate scandal and other giant stories.
Bezos said in a recent interview that he is eager to experiment with new techniques to win reader loyalty in the digital era, as he tries to reverse the Post's decline and restore it to profitability.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Illinois judge fines Orland Park Patch editor Joseph Hosey $300 a day over refusal to reveal sources
Journalist ruled to be in 'minor direct criminal contempt'
It is open season on US journalists and their sources nowadays. An Illinois judge has fined a news website $300 a day because its editor refuses to reveal his sources.
Joseph Hosey, who edits the hyperlocal news site Orland Park Patch, has been ordered to pay a fine of $1,000, costs and $300 per day from 29 August up to 180 days. After that period, he faces jail.
The judge ruled that Hosey was in "minor direct criminal contempt" for not giving up the police reports he obtained about the circumstances of a double murder in January 2013 (see here) and revealing the source of those documents.
Hosey's lawyer, Kenneth Schmetterer, immediately announced an appeal and the fines were stayed pending that appeal.
Schmetterer said after the hearing: "Illinois courts have upheld the shield law to protect reporters precisely from having to divulge confidential sources because of the chilling effect it can have on the important work reporters can do.
"That's a principle that's established and recognised by appellate courts and the Illinois supreme court by the statute, and that's why we're going to vigorously press forward with our appeal."
Orland Park Patch is part of the Patch Media network of news sites across 23 US states. It is owned by AOL.
Sources: Orland Park Patch Hat tip: TechDirt
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2013
Closing arguments due in Michael Jackson's family's suit against tour promoter
Lawyers in the trial pitting Michael Jackson's family against his last tour promoter will begin making closing arguments Tuesday, after five months in court, officials said.
His mother Katherine is suing AEG Live for allegedly negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray and failing to properly supervise him in the months before the pop icon's June 2009 death.
The 83-year-old family matriarch has listened attentively to proceedings from a front-row seat in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, where the trial got under way in April.
For the closing arguments and verdict, proceedings will be held in a large special events room at the downtown LA courthouse, rather than in the cramped courtroom where the trial has been held until now, limiting the number of media and spectators who can attend.
Katherine Jackson is seeking billions of dollars in damages -- $1.5 billion in lost income and an unspecified amount for emotional loss and other damages -- on behalf of Jackson's children Prince Michael I, 16, Paris, 15 and 11-year-old Prince Michael II, known by his nickname "Blanket."
While it is tough to predict the jury's verdict, observers say her case appears difficult to prove. Earlier this month, the judge dismissed her claims against two AEG Live bosses, leaving only AEG Live itself in the line of fire.
The self-proclaimed King of Pop died on June 25, 2009 at his rented Holmby Hills mansion outside Los Angeles, from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol. He was 50 years old.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for giving the drug to the "Thriller" star -- who suffered from chronic insomnia -- to help him sleep. He was jailed for four years.
Pop legend Jackson was rehearsing for a planned "This is It" series of comeback concerts in London, which were expected to be followed by a world tour of the show.
Katherine Jackson alleges that AEG Live negligently hired an inappropriate and incompetent doctor for her son -- Murray is a cardiologist -- and missed a series of red flags about his failing health in the run-up to his death.
AEG Live counters that it did not sign a contract with Murray, and that a promised $150,000 a month for his services would come from an advance it was making to Jackson, meaning effectively that the star hired his own medic.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Colin Farrell and Paula Patton to star in World of Warcraft movie: report
Actors Colin Farrell and Paula Patton are reportedly under active consideration for the lead roles in Warcraft, the film adaptation of the Warcraft videogames to be directed by Source Code's Duncan Jones.
According to Deadline, Patton "is negotiating for a lead role" and "another lead has been offered to" Farrell. Patton, who played IMF agent Jane Carter in successful action film Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol alongside Tom Cruise, is seen as a Hollywood up and comer, while Farrell, the Irish actor best known for cult films such as In Bruges and Intermission, has attempted to find success with a string of mainstream roles in films such as Total Recall, Miami Vice and Alexander.
Warcraft – the movie – has been in the works since at least 2006, when Blizzard, the company behind World of Warcraft, announced it had agreed a partnership with Dark Knight Rises backers Legendary Pictures. Oz the Great and Powerful director Sam Raimi was initially attached to the film, but he dropped out in 2012 and was replaced by Jones earlier this year.
Based on the series of immensely succesful Warcraft games – which first appeared in 1994, and saw its popularity enhanced by the 2001 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) World of Warcraft – rumours suggest the movie will be based on the orcs v humans template of the early Warcraft games. Filming is expected to begin early next year.
Rihanna selfie leads to arrest of two men in Thailand
Thai authorities on Monday said two men had been arrested on suspicion of possessing a protected primate after pop star Rihanna posted a picture of herself online holding the creature.
The singer posed with the tiny, large-eyed slow loris on a night out in the tourist resort of Phuket on Friday, posting a picture on Twitter and Instagram, without apparently realising that the use of the animal as a prop for tourist snaps is illegal.
The image -- captioned "Look who was talkin dirty to me!" (
) -- generated outrage from animal lovers concerned about rampant exploitation of animals in Thai tourist areas and prompted a quick response from authorities.Local district chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol said two men were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of possessing a loris.
"I have asked police to check the area in Patong beach after Rihanna posted her picture on Friday night with a slow loris," he told AFP.
Wildlife trade protection group Traffic said the image of Rihanna with the loris "takes global conservation efforts several steps back".
"The public often takes a cue from people they look up to, and when celebrities act in this manner, there is a real danger that the mass thinks its ok for everyone else to be doing this. It's not ok," said Senior Programme Officer Kanitha Krishnasamy.
Rihanna, who was holidaying in Thailand as she travelled through the region as part of her "Diamonds" world tour, also posed with several elephants in further pictures and commented on visiting one of the area's notorious sex shows.
The "Umbrella" singer's picture with the loris received more than 231,000 likes on Instagram, while also sparking a discussion among commentators about the protected animal.
Thai resorts such as Phuket are well known for animals like lorises being used in shows and displays for tourists.
According to Traffic, slow lorises are found throughout Asia, ranging from India and China to Indonesia and the Philippines.
They are banned from commercial international trade and protected in Thailand.
The animals are threatened by habitat destruction and a rapacious illegal pet trade "stimulated in part by their regular appearance in online videos", Traffic said, adding that mothers are often killed while young are stolen.
The loris bite is toxic so their teeth are removed to make them better pets.
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.