The Salt Lake Tribune
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Entering the litigious phase
The trajectory of Gary Coleman's recent fracas at a Payson bowling alley is proceeding right on schedule.

Cole Rushton, 24, the Spanish Fork resident who accuses the 40-year-old former child star of punching him and running into him with a truck has filed a lawsuit, according to this article by the Tribune's Kristin Owens.

Here's the life cycle of a celebrity misdemeanor: First the incident, then the filing of charges, then the big splash in the tabloids, then the snarky reaction in the blogosphere, then the lawsuit by the supposedly injured party, then the second splash in the tabloids, then the second snarky reaction from the blogs. All that's left is the handling of the criminal case (either a trial or a dismissal of charges) and the out-of-court settlement on the lawsuit.


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posted by Sean P. Means @ 9:10 AM | 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, September 8, 2008
Ripples in a pond
It's fascinating, if not a little depressing, to see how one incident in the life of a quasi-celebrity can send ripples across the Internet.

Take the example of former child star Gary Coleman, who was involved in an auto-pedestrian accident early Saturday morning outside a Payson, Utah, bowling alley.

The Salt Lake Tribune dutifully reported the incident in its Sunday paper, about how Coleman reportedly got irritated by a man, Colt Reston, 24, tried to photograph him. The argument started inside the bowling alley, then continued out in the parking lot, where the accident took place.

The Deseret News also reported the incident, and then the Associated Press picked up the story. Then it was off to the races.

Papers in the UK and Australia ran the story. So did Perez Hilton, and several other celebrity blogs - each one giving the blogger and commenters ample opportunity to mock or pass judgment on a human being they have never met (something that I, admittedly, have done on this blog on many occasions).

Let this be a lesson to anyone who seeks to become famous: Once you are famous, even a little bit, your whole life goes on public display - even in Payson, Utah.

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posted by Sean P. Means @ 9:04 AM | 0 Comments Links to this post
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