Jennifer Lawrence Breaks Silence on Leaked Pics
Unlike some of the other names involved in the recent nude pic leak that inspired Tim Cook to sit down with The Wall Street Journal and defend his company’s iCloud offering, Jennifer Lawrence had been silent until today.
In a perfectly coordinated act of public relations, she spoke to Sam Kashner of Vanity Fair in an exclusive follow-up to a piece already set to run as a teaser for the third film in the Hunger Games series.
“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world.”
Lawrence claims she wanted to respond earlier but didn’t feel like she could so effectively:
“I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for.
It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it…I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
Of course, it’s a much more powerful statement than Lawrence’s publicist’s initial “flagrant violation of privacy” quote. It also fits with the recent lawsuit filed by reps for Lawrence and others against Google last week. A couple of lines from that one:
“If your wives, daughters or relatives were the victims of such blatant violations of basic human rights, surely you would take appropriate action. But because the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights, you do nothing – – nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue from your co-conspirator advertising partners…”
The suit may not go anywhere, and various parties will continue to pay top dollar for compromising pictures of people who never intended for them to to public.
But this is a great case study for dealing with celebrity crises: wait, bide your time and release a powerful, extensive statement when you’re ready.
