Nip slips and naked picture scandals from people like Khloé Kardashian and Blake Lively are nothing other than publicity stunts. Both celebs have new projects coming out and no doubt that these “mishaps” are planned to maximize their media exposure. Taking off one’s clothes for attention is the behaviour of very young children and crazy people – is this where we are now? Is everyone outside of the ‘A’ list (and even some on it) using Tila Tequila tactics to get buzz?
Although Lively has denied that some of those leaked photos of her and her gossip girls are real – the timing of their release sure makes it appear to be a publicity stunt. But what about Vanessa Hudgens, Khloe Kardashian, and the mother of all nip scandals, Janet Jackson?
Can all those be coincidental – of course not – in fact almost one of them are. There are so many examples of sneak-a-peek out there these days that we can not in good conscience call them ‘scandals.’
For some other examples of mysterious (yet fortuitous) slippages – most occurring on red carpets or at other suitably high exposure events – we have Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Winehouse, Christina Ricci, Mischa Barton, Keira Knightly, Jessica Simpson (of course!), and Milla Jovovich.
As far as the release of celeb nude photos, unlike nip slips, those tend to emerge with complete premeditation.
“Yes, those are deliberately leaked, and yes, I am contacted more often than one would imagine about that, usually by agents or publicists,” says Joshua Estrin, who runs the celeb news site PopMuncher.com.
“It’s very well and strategically calculated” in many instances. Estrin himself doesn’t post such photos, but, he says, he gets offers quite often.
“It usually goes something like this,” Estrin tells me. “[The publicists or agents] call and tell me, ‘We have some great photos that are gonna blow your site up, are you interested?’ It’s not like ‘So-and-so had a wardrobe malfunction and we would like you to post it.’
“But you know what you’re getting. Sometimes they even say, ‘Can we send one of the blurrier ones over to give you an idea of what you’re getting? We’ll leave the caption up to you’.”
What are these photos, usually, and of whom? Well, Estrin says, “They tend to look organic and grainy and were clearly taken in a private space. They’re usually really well cropped so it’s hard to tell that it’s someone’s living room.”
“I also get a lot of butt shots from guys they are clearly taken, at least, in my opinion, at gyms. Like, someone took a picture of himself in a mirror and now his handlers have it.”
When you see a celeb nude shot – suspect a setup – especially if star has something to promote. Estrin says these releases are optimally timed.
Most of these nude “leaks” come from lower-end stars such as reality types or B or C-listers who need more press at a key time, but aren’t getting enough.
“When the machine isn’t running as it should, then they come to the media with creative ways to grease the wheels,” Estrin says.
For politicians, releases of compromising nude shots usually signal a crash and burn end to careers – for entertainers it is just another way to generate publicity.
