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Thursday, August 17, 2006

What do Nicole Kidman and Adam Sandler Have in Common? 

In a perfect world, the political pronouncements of the denizens of Hollywood really wouldn't be televised, publicized, or blogged about. Just ignored.

Unfortunately, I've already sullied the purity of the AbbaGav brand by mocking and criticizing Hollywood and it's cast of rotating hunger strikers, not to mention Mel Gibson, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and a cavalcade of stars. So when Hollywood takes a different path -- supporting Israel rather than tut-tutting about it -- it's only fair I should take a moment to report the good news and not just the bad.

Which brings me to the connection between two of today's biggest stars, who go together like caviar and cotton candy: Nicole Kidman and Adam Sandler.

First, this morning via Instapundit I learned the following about Nicole Kidman and a group of Hollywood's heavy-hitters:

NICOLE Kidman has made a public stand against terrorism.

The actress, joined by 84 other high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today's Los Angeles Times newspaper.

It specifically targets "terrorist organisations" such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.

"We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad reads.

"If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

"We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs."
And while Nicole Kidman got the headlines for her participation, others worthy of mention include:

The actors listed included: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton and William Hurt.

Directors Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner and Sam Raimi also signed their names.

Other Hollywood powerplayers supporting the ad included Sumner Redstone, the chairman and majority owner of Paramount Pictures, and billionaire mogul, Haim Saban.
While this doesn't mean that any of these people have had an earth-shaking change of world-view and are ready to sign up for the Gingrich School of Conservative Meditation, it's gratifying to see that at least a few big stars are starting to see the big picture.

And that includes Adam Sandler:

Adam Sandler is doing his part to help Israel following its 34-day war with Lebanon. The 50 First Dates star announced earlier this week he would donate 400 Sony Playstations to Israelis whose homes were damaged in the fighting. The 39-year-old made the pledge during a meeting in Hollywood with Ehud Danoch, Israel's consul general in Los Angeles.
Since it's not likely Adam Sandler would agree to stop churning out bad movies, this may be the next best thing he could do for world peace.

Now what would it take for Hollywood to sign on to an ad stating "George Bush is not Satan incarnate"? And what would it take for the LA Times to print it?

UPDATE:

Mamacita finds some interesting and hopeful signs in these latest Hollywood developments.

If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
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