Birth of an actor

Chapter 232 Acts and Street Shooting

Jonathan Bates, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is a Harvard alumnus with William Bradley. He was a member of drama and LGBT clubs during his school days. He once founded the William Bradley North American fan website, which was unexpectedly fast. After development and expansion, it was split into a non-commercial Bradley personal fan site and a commercial news Hollywoodnewsonline (Hollywoodnewsonline).

HSO has developed rapidly since its establishment. At the end of 2002, it had more than 400 million daily visits. It is a very well-known entertainment gossip website in North America. A number of Hollywood companies have reached cooperation to provide a wealth of current and upcoming movie information on the website, including premiere tickets, reservations for movie derivative products, and have also reached cooperation with several large theaters. The online quick ticket purchase service was launched online.

——This brief introduction about Jonathan Bates and the HSO website he was the editor-in-chief recently appeared in many newspapers, magazines and even news programs, and the media also labeled Bates as gay, Brooklynite, William Bradley alumnus, Internet entrepreneur, editor, businessman, LGBT rights activist and many other labels.

When Jonathan Bates himself was still in a coma, his name had appeared in the media more frequently than the president recently.

There are many reasons for the rapid spread of news about Jonathan Bates. One of the important factors is that William visited the hospital the day after Bates was attacked. This incident quickly attracted a lot of attention-although most of the interested The media were stuck in front of City Hall and the New York Police Department waiting for the official press conference that day. William also wore a hat, sunglasses and mask as a disguise, but there were still several local media such as the "New York Post" guarding the hospital to find out about Bates' injuries. When the medical staff recognized William, the next day's newspapers had headlines, and some of Jonathan Bates' experiences at Harvard and his personal resume after graduation were also exposed.

Another reason is that after the case received a lot of attention from the public in the media, the NYPD held a press conference in which the Chief of Police released the details of the night in which suspect Hank Olson attacked Jonathan Bates .

29-year-old Hank Olson worked for a bar in Manhattan's West Village for several years. He was fired by the bar owner for selling pills to customers privately. He believed that another bar employee's whistleblowing caused him to lose his job. The employee was an out gay man, and Olsen was already prejudiced against gays. After this incident, he became a staunch member of the homophobic and anti-gay community, always looking for opportunities to retaliate.

Sentenced to prison for assault at the Greenwich Village gay parade did not make Olson repent, but aggravated his hatred of homosexuals. After he was released from prison, Olsen often hung out in bars in the East and West Villages, Wrote a lot of notes to "kill all gays" and put them outside gay bars, creating panic among the staff and customers of those bars, and making fun of it, including the former bar colleague who was suspected of high haired him before, was arrested He was so harassing that he had to resign.

On the night of the case, Hank Olson was spreading hate notes outside the bar visited by Jonathan Bates. It was a provocation to him, and then followed the two and attacked them.

Jonathan Bates' boyfriend also came out for an interview after the NYPD's press conference and said they did find a note outside the bar door that said "kill gays" and drew a gun, but they thought it was a prank.

When a reporter from The New York Times asked: "Why don't you feel scared after seeing the threatening note?"

Jonathan Bates boyfriend replied: "Because it's New York."

When the New York Times published the interview, it bolded and highlighted this sentence.

Why Jonathan Bates and Boyfriend Didn't Take Threat Notes SeriouslyBecause this is New York, one of the most liberal, open and gay-friendly cities in the United States—although it often loses to San Francisco in the "gay paradise" campaign, New York's unique economic and cultural status makes this city a Home of various gay pride movements.

This is also the biggest reason why the attack on Jonathan Bates quickly became a hot news in the United States, not only because of William's visit, not only because of Bates' celebrity status, but also because it happened in New York and in the West Village of Manhattan.

The last homosexual attack that caused a sensation in the United States occurred in Wyoming in 1998. Matthew Sheppard, a 21-year-old gay college student, met two young people while drinking in a bar. The two pretended to be gay to lure Matthew and them They drove away together, and then on the outskirts of Laramie, the two robbed and beat Matthew, tied him to a wooden fence with chains and left him to fend for himself in the outskirts. Matthew was found a day later , died of his injuries after being in a coma for six days.

The death of Matthew Shepard was the most famous anti-gay case in the 90s. It not only caused discussions on the rights and status of gay groups around the world, but also led to extensive comparisons between countries and regions on the harmony and tolerance of homosexuality. It also once triggered fierce confrontation between the gay camp and the anti-gay camp in North America, as well as the controversy over the amendment of the bill during the election of Democrats and Republicans.

The biggest difference between the cases of Jonathan Bates and Matthew Shepard is that the young Matthew Shepard was killed in Wyoming, which is the most conservative and closed state in the United States, with a strong religious atmosphere, and the Christian faith makes the people there People think that homosexuality is a disgusting and abnormal behavior, and it seems to be in two different countries from the free and open big cities on the east and west coasts, so when they learned of the death of Matthew Shepard, the media and the public were more than sympathetic. My emotion is anger. The town of Laramie, where the case happened, is cruel and harsh. People have accused the town of Laramie of long-term discrimination and homophobic environment, which gave birth to the occurrence of hate cases against homosexuals.

Although the method used by anti-gayers to attack Jonathan Bates was not as cruel and cruel as the Matthew Shepard case, but because Bates was attacked in New York, in this international metropolis known for its openness, freedom and tolerance However, what happened to him made the LGBT community feel more empathetic, and it also gave birth to their deepest fears.

Gay people across the United States are more aware than ever before that they are not safe in conservative Wyoming, nor are they safe in liberal New York, that they are not safe going to a bar alone, nor are they safe going to a bar with a partner, as ordinary people Not safe, and being rich is not safe either.

Be it New York, Boston, Chicago or Seattle, even the gay community (and families with gay children) in Los Angeles and San Francisco are starting to feel anxious—where else in the world is safe?Is it only possible to escape from North America and go to Europe?

The deep unease, fear and dread has everyone moving faster than they did in 1998.

Some data that had never been valued by the mainstream media before began to appear on the evening news and even talk shows—in the past two years, cases of violence based on sexual orientation have shown a sharp increase in North America. Seventeen percent of all hate crimes were attributed to discrimination based on sexual orientation, a 17 percent increase from pre-millennium levels.

Broadway theaters reopened the stage play "The Laramie Project" based on the true story of Matthew Shepard a few years ago. Tickets for the first three shows were sold out within a few hours of opening. The copyright of the film documentary of the same name was also bought by several cable channels and played in the evening, and the ratings once surpassed some popular dramas at the same time.

HSO has launched a special section on the history of the struggle for equal rights in North America on the website, popularizing the Stonewall Movement and other landmark events in North America for equal rights in North America, listing the process and progress of LGBT organizations fighting for rights and interests around the world, as well as gay celebrities in history.

Thanks to the blessings of being frequently mentioned by influential media including NBC News and The New York Times recently, coupled with the fact that the report of this hot news and the preparations for tracing back to historical events are indeed detailed and sufficient, even surpassing BBC and CNN And other news websites, the HSO website has grown in popularity, attracting the attention of LGBT groups and many ordinary netizens who care about current affairs news. It is with the help of this incident that the popularity and influence of the website have been expanded. On the other hand, why not use the channel of the website to promote the fermentation of news to the greatest extent.

The Gay and Gay Anti-Defamation League of America organized gay parades in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. to condemn the attack on Jonathan Bates. Gay rights organizations in other cities also began to hold various anti-discrimination gatherings and speeches .

At the beginning, the demonstrations were basically carried out in a small-scale and peaceful manner, until anti-gay groups also came out to demonstrate, and unpredictable riots began to occur.

In Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, the gay parade and the anti-gay group met at the CNN Center. The mood of the two teams was relatively stable at first, until three young men insulted two drag queens with anti-gay swear words, One of them was shot and wounded, and a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides immediately, and the severity of the incident rose rapidly.Because this incident happened right under the studio building, it was naturally captured by the camera, and after it was broadcast on the CNN evening news, it quickly spread throughout the United States.

In Los Angeles, Exodus, the largest "bend straight" organization in North America - which claims to change people from gay to straight through prayer - Christian evangelical anti-gay group Exodus organized a massive anti-gay demonstration, hundreds of people Members of Exodus swaggered through the city holding signs of "GADHATESFAGS (a slang name for gay men)", which triggered strong protests from local gay organizations. One party threw a flashbang at the opposite crowd, and the other responded with stones and bottles. Fight.In the end, the clash left five people injured, including a police officer, who made four arrests and revoked Exodus's permit to parade.

The mayors of Atlanta and Los Angeles issued statements successively, condemning the violence in the two demonstrations, and calling on citizens to stop division and confrontation and take action against hatred.

"In the 21st century, in the diverse Los Angeles, no one should be afraid because of their homosexual identity." The mayor of Los Angeles repeatedly emphasized on TV: "We will never tolerate any atrocities. All Angelenos should all act in solidarity against hate and violence of any kind."

The appeal initially had a good reassuring effect, but when the media revealed that the NYPD had concluded its investigation of Hank Olson and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office decided to charge Olson with assault My nerves were provoked again.

This time, the spearhead is even aimed directly at the federal government.

Here, I have to mention a law - "Hate Crime Act". In 1969, the federal government passed the "Hate Crimes Act", which stipulates that no organization or group shall promote and incite hatred between groups, and it is illegal for any individual to express hate speech in public places.

This law was promulgated in a special time (the second year after Martin Luther King’s death), and a large part of its purpose was to appease the anger of the black community, and the scope of application only included race, skin color, religion and nationality as excuses. Crimes do not involve gender or sexual orientation, so they have been criticized by women's groups and LGBT groups for many years, because the punishment for crimes is too light, and even people of color are quite dissatisfied.

The New York police investigated the case in the name of a hate crime, but because the scope of application of the "Hate Crimes Act" does not include crimes against homosexuality, the district attorney can only charge Hank Olson with assault — which makes gay people uncomfortable first, and women second because this law doesn't protect them either.Then there are black organizations and other minorities, who brought up the 1998 killing of James Byrd, a black man, by three white racists in Texas, and attacked the law as too soft and not deterrent enough to truly Protects people of color.Finally, some religious minorities protested. They also talked about the case of a gas station owner who believed in Sikhism in Arizona in September 2001 because he was mistaken for a Muslim. They provide more protection.

For several days, LGBT, people of color and women's rights groups united in protest at the Capitol, bringing up the names of Matthew Shepard, James Byrd and Jonathan Bates, demanding changes The "Hate Crimes Act" expands the scope of application of the law to gender, sexual orientation, nationality, skin color, disability, religion, transgender, political party, etc., and increases the punishment for violent crimes caused by dangerous weapons.

In the past, any one of these three groups could cause headaches on Capitol Hill. Now they have united to do things together, directly turning the demonstration into another affirmative action movement, and taking it in a vigorous new direction. ——The kind that is enough to attract the attention of the White House.

Now not only the whole of the United States, but even other countries are paying attention to the development of the incident, especially groups in Europe, who can respond to their distant cousin the United States on the other side of the ocean every minute, just like what happened more than once in the 70s and [-]s.

The matter has developed to the point where it has nothing to do with Jonathan Bates. He is like a domino, triggering a series of chain effects. I am afraid that no one can predict the rapid change and great impact of the incident.

And no one dares to say now, whether there will be other evolutions in the future, and whether it will eventually lead to earth-shaking changes, just like the police raid on the Stonewall Bar, the assassination of Milk, and the signing of "Don't ask, don't tell" by President Clinton. At the beginning of the bill, people didn't expect that it just opened a hole in the peaceful surface of the United States, allowing the long-hidden and fermenting social contradictions to burst out like a cancer.

But what is certain is that when homosexuality is legalized in the United States, the name Jonathan Bates will definitely be written into the history of gay equality.

……

"—Over the years, many non-governmental organizations and congressmen have submitted bills aimed at increasing punishment for violent crimes caused by racial background, gender, and sexual orientation. However, every time a bill is submitted to Congress, Republican congressmen and Democratic Fierce confrontation among congressmen. Right-wing religious organizations dominated by the Christian Coalition believe that homosexuals and people of color should not be provided with 'special protection', so they have exerted strong pressure on Republican congressmen, causing the bill to repeatedly suffer setbacks in Congress."

"As the scale of demonstrations continued to expand, the bill was once again submitted to Congress and will be voted on by the House of Representatives. A few days ago, White House spokesman Fleischer stated at a regular press conference that President Bush respects the rights of every citizen's life. way, whether they are gay or not, should not be targeted by criminals because of who they are or what they are. Hank Olsen's crimes not only created physical harm, but also attempted to spread fear and bring emotional harm to citizens , the White House supports laws that impose harsher penalties for such criminals."

"As we all know, President Bush has always had a firm stance against gay marriage. Does the White House's extraordinary statement mean that Bush's firm anti-gay attitude is changing, and there is hope for the passage of the new Anti-Hate Crime Act? "

Amon Goffman pressed the remote control, and the CBS anchor who was wearing a professional suit and broadcasting the news on the TV with a serious face disappeared without a trace.

"See, Will, things are getting better, even without you."

"You look too nervous, Amy." William handed over the freshly brewed coffee with triple the sugar: "Relax, I have no plans to go to Washington to participate in the parade."

And that's what worries Jewish brokers.Amon Goffman also saw the news about Jonathan Bates on TV at the beginning. At that time, he only thought it was an ordinary social news, and he had no other feelings except sympathy. Openness In fact, real life in the United States is far from peaceful and inclusive. As an openly gay man, there are always some unavoidable risks to bear.

This calmness like watching fire from afar did not last long. On the second day, he was first woken up by a call from the menacing Barbara Wilson, and then saw William who had just come out of the New York hospital on the TV news.

William's attention to the Jonathan Bates incident caused great panic among Amon Goffman and Barbara Wilson. They were worried that the media would distort and entangle them, and they were afraid that the world would not be chaotic for William to fabricate a "Jonathan Bates Harvard homosexual". "Close friend" title, and fearing that William would be outraged by what happened to Bates, he would come out impulsively, and then the whole Hollywood (maybe not only Hollywood) would experience a big earthquake.

With William's current influence and status, if he really comes out, he may be immediately hostile by extreme anti-gay people. On the cusp of this crisis, he may even be attacked and assassinated. Thinking of the possibility of such a vicious incident, Amon Goffman was terrified. He thought of John Lennon, Kennedy, and even Jodie Foster and Reagan.

Amon Goffman even found a work excuse to fly William back to Los Angeles, and then found other things to trip him up, and stopped him from going to Washington to speak with Madonna-although it was just a cover Event invitations sent to most Hollywood movie stars.

Fortunately, the Jonathan Bates incident itself was the trigger, and the other protests and discussions on American politics, society, and law attracted most of the attention. No media focused on William. Sexuality persisted, they were all busy filming the speech parade under the Capitol Hill or interviewing celebrities who dared to speak out at this moment, and there was no development that Amon and Barbara were worried about.

But Amon Goffman still couldn't be completely relieved, because William was too silent, he didn't do anything except read the newspapers every day to learn about the latest developments, which was the most abnormal.The Jewish manager's keen intuition told him that William must be planning something.

The long stare had aroused William's doubts, and Amon Goffman looked away, took a sip of coffee, and made himself look less like a stalker. "It's too sweet." He clicked his tongue.

"Sweets help to soothe the mood." William didn't continue to beat around the bush, but directly hit his manager with a straight ball: "You don't have to make excuses to look at me every day, Ami, I understand your worries, I will not act impulsively, pure anger is useless, it can only cause a lot of trouble."

"I'm not stalking you...but it's best if you can think about it." Amon Goffman, who was seen through, was not at all unhappy. On the contrary, he was in the happiest mood in a week at the moment, "I mean, I'm also watching this and worrying about Jonathan Bates' health, but as a public figure, Will, it's really not appropriate for you to get too involved in these things unless you imagine Schwarzenegger in the future or Reagan in politics."

William is not interested: "Politics? No."

The joy of the Jewish broker today lasted only until Lance Roderick appeared.

Lance came down from the bedroom on the second floor, and nodded slightly to Amon while putting on his tie. Amon responded by raising his coffee cup, which was regarded as a greeting—and in the heart of the Jewish agent, there was Use the words "They're living together! Will is living with a Roderick!" This sentence is crazy.

After drinking coffee, Amon Goffman quickly bid farewell, and William asked him to have brunch with him, but was rejected.The reason is not difficult to guess. Since accepting William’s private coming out, Amon Goffman’s eyes on Lance are no longer as friendly as before. In other words, he regards Lance as a time bomb, full of excitement all the time. alert.

"Your agent is staring at me like I'm some Hollywood gold digger bitch," Lance said, pouring himself a cup of coffee and looking out the window, where Amon Goffman was starting the car in the yard.

William was really choked. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and his cheeks flushed from coughing: "Where did you learn this word?"

"Gossip site."

"I didn't know you still liked watching this."

"Maybe it's because I'm also an ordinary person?"

"Then Mr. Ordinary People, what else have you seen?"

“Whenever you’re out and about, there’s an overwhelming amount of street photos on the internet – and by the way, these sites have reviews of you too, and they say you can’t go wrong with your street photography, unless it’s with Leonardo DiCap Leo walks together."

This is the first time William has heard of this kind of evaluation, and he finds it very novel: "What do you mean 'unless you are walking with Leonardo'?"

Lance looked at William for a while, and after confirming that he really didn't know anything, he raised his eyebrows: "How long has it been since you Googled your own name?" He reached for the iBook and opened several street photography websites to show William .

After the Internet bubble burst in the millennium, after two or three years of silence, the IT industry in the United States has begun to fully recover this year. One of the performances in Hollywood is that a large number of entertainment-related websites have emerged one after another, such as HSO. There are also comprehensive websites dedicated to film information, music sharing, and even celebrity street photography.

Street photography culture has been popular in Europe and the United States for many years. At first, fashion magazines wanted to convey the fashion elements in life through street photography. Curiosity about "what do stars wear" and the desire to imitate stars promote the sales of magazines.

There are magazine reporters squatting in the places where celebrities frequent in West Hollywood all the year round. When there are more and more street photography websites, there are even people with cameras cruising around in front of the stars’ homes and on the roads. Different from fashion magazines that carefully select quality photos and print them, street photography websites will put all kinds of street photos on the Internet. The older mature women group, the hot mom group, the star baby group, the handsome man group, the shirtless group, etc., come with spicy comments from fashion editors, and there are votes for the best dress every week. It can be said that the celebrity fashion consumption has reached the extreme.

The website that William is looking at, called Hollywood Street Shooting Weekly, knows how to catch the attention of netizens—the top three best-dressed photos selected by Street Shooting last week were marked with crowns and placed on the The most eye-catching headline position, people can see it at the first glance when they click on the website, the lower position is the most concerned street photos of this week, and the lower part is the male star article and female star article of the music festival dress guide The layout of the entire website strives to maximize the photos and minimize the text, so as to achieve the purpose of being clear at a glance.

It can be said that these street photography websites were born from the street photography pages in fashion magazines, and the vigorous development of the websites is also boosting the popularity of street photography culture. Now Hollywood stars go out (especially actresses and female singers), It is common to pay more attention to what you wear.

There are also some clear streams. For example, male stars usually (unless they are from the UK) don’t pay much attention to street photography. However, they will dress up a little bit, trim their beards diligently, and wear well-fitting clothes to prevent themselves from looking sloppy. , if you can apply some hairspray and wear sunglasses, you can be called a refined male star.

However, there are occasional mudslides in the clear stream, such as Leonardo DiCaprio.

In all the street photos, his shirt is wrinkled as if it has not been properly ironed since he bought it, and his pants are so baggy that he can fit his four legs in, as if he never cares whether he looks good in the reporter's lens .When he finds paparazzi chasing him to take pictures, he will suddenly retract his head into the hoodie, or cover his face with a coat casually, so that in his street photos, there are even pictures of him walking well. are very few.

Without Googling again, or searching through the bewildering array of photos, William spotted pictures of himself and Leonardo DiCaprio on the Hollywood Street Shooting Weekly website - and not just because of the pictures Next to last week's best, they are placed in the C position of the webpage, and because they are really... hard to describe.

It’s not that there is any problem with his image. In the eyes of fashion magazines, William is famous for his good clothes. Although he is not from Europe, he has lived in the metropolis of New York for many years. His mother, Madeleine, who is an illustrator He has been online all the time, and under his influence, William has a natural intuition for clothing matching. Even if his daily clothing is simple, there are always highlights, and the color matching is very comfortable. In Los Angeles, where the fashion sense of actors is not strict, It's okay to take it to the premiere, so no one ever thinks that William's street photography can be equated with "bad".

Moreover, to be honest, although Leonardo never cares about dressing himself up, his face is still top-level in Hollywood. Even if he always wears T-shirts and hoodies that are aesthetically pleasing to middle-aged men, he will at most be talked about and let go. The self is uninhibited.

When William and Leonardo go out on the street separately, no matter what angle the street photo is taken from, it is impossible to be ugly, but when they appear together, the seductive style of painting will become strange from time to time.

After looking at the hottest street photos of the week on the website for a long time, William couldn't help but defend himself: "It's not my fault."

He clicked on the two photos that were marked by the editor as "black wrought iron wavy headband, a new fashion in Hollywood?" and explained: "This headband belongs to Leonardo, but he went to try on the dress later, I couldn’t wear it anymore, so it ran on my head.”

In this group of photos, the first one is the scene of William and Leonardo sitting in an open-air cafe and chatting. It was after the filming that the two went out to drink coffee. Among them, Leonardo wore a The little finger-wide black headband is the kind of iron black headband that girls use to fix their hair when they wash, which can be seen everywhere in ordinary stores.

The reason why Leonardo wears a headband is because most of his hairstyles in "The Aviator" are the traditional back hair with pomade all the hair combed to the back of the head. This hairstyle requires him to keep the hair on the forehead Long, it’s okay to have hair oil to fix it when filming, but it’s very troublesome when the hair hangs down in daily life. He dislikes his hair being too long. In the two photos secretly taken through the window of the custom shop, the headband appeared on William's head.

Then there are several other groups of photos taken when the two were out on the street during the filming of "The Aviator". In one group, the two came out of the gym together, with William walking in front carrying a black gym bag, and Leonardo Without a gym bag, he stuffed the towel and the changed clothes into a purple plastic bag and carried it casually, dangling as he walked, and then secretly tied the plastic bag to William's backpack, seeing that William never noticed it. , Still walking behind and snickering.

William rubbed his forehead: "God, is he a naive ghost?"

The next set of photos proves that either Leonardo is really a childish ghost, or the reporter who took the candid photos has a weird reproductive cult.