Friday, March 16, 2007

Book By Madonna's Nanny Killed

The idea that Crown backed out of publishing a book by Madonna's former nanny because it would take longer than they thought to get it out is just silly. You mean, Madonna won't be newsworthy two years from now? Please. But how distasteful is this? Obviously, you don't give up all your rights just because you work for a famous person and I don't know about the legality of demanding people give up all their rights to publish or comment on someone in exchange for getting a job with Oprah or Tom Cruise or Madonna or whomever. (I assume those agreements aren't binding, since people simply CAN'T give up their basic rights and surely freedom of speech -- ie. writing a book -- is one of them.) But I have a great deal of sympathy for the celeb in these cases, even if they're bad bosses. If you don't like working for someone, quit. But surely these people should be able to hire employees without worrying that every moment of their private life is being documented and recorded so the employee can dish a tell-all or run to the tabloids for money. And there's a big difference just in waiting -- writing a memoir some 30 years later (nice or nasty) just feels less like cashing in on your access that churning something out a week after you left them. The people that do this are just vile, in my opinion. Don't they ahve any self-respect?

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