Sunday, December 16, 2019

THE GLEANER, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | ENTERTAINMENT C6 NEW YORK (AP): U NDER PRESSURE from a conservative advocacy group, The Hallmark Channel has pulled ads for a wedding-planning website that featured two brides kissing at the altar. The family-friendly network, which is in the midst of its heavily watched holiday programming, removed the ads because the controversy was a distraction, a spokesperson said in an interview last Saturday. “The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value,” said a statement provided by Molly Biwer, senior vice-president for public affairs and communications at Hallmark. In an interview, she added:“The Hallmark brand is never going to be divisive.We don’t want to generate controversy, we’ve tried very hard to stay out of it ... . We just felt it was in the best interest of the brand to pull them and not continue to generate controversy.” There was immediate criticismonTwitter. Ellen DeGeneres asked Hallmark: “Isn’t it almost 2020?What are you thinking? Please explain. We’re all ears.” Biwer confirmed that a conservative group, One Million Moms, part of the American Family Association, had complained about the ads to Bill Abbott, CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, Hallmark’s parent company. AIRED IN ERROR A post on the group’s website said that Abbott“reported the advertisement aired in error”. The group also wrote:“The call to our office gave us the opportunity to confirm the Hallmark Channel will continue to be a safe and family-friendly network.” Zola had submitted six ads, and four had a lesbian couple. After Hallmark pulled those ads, but not two featuring only opposite-sex couples, Zola pulled its remaining ads, the company said. “The only difference between the commercials that were flagged and the ones that were approved was that the commercials that did not meet Hallmark’s standards included a lesbian couple kissing,” said Mike Chi, Zola’s chief marketing officer, in a statement sent to the AP. ”Hallmark approved a commercial where a heterosexual couple kissed. “All kisses, couples and marriages are equal celebrations of love and we will no longer be advertising on Hallmark,”Chi said. In one of the pulled ads, two brides stand at the altar and wonder aloud whether their wedding would be going more smoothly if they had used a wedding planning site like Zola. The lighthearted ad ends with the two brides sharing a quick kiss on the altar. Actress Sandra Bernhard, who played one of the first openly bisexual characters on network TV in Roseanne , also criticised Hallmark’s decision. “All the groovy gay ladies I knowwon’t be watching your Christmas schlock,”she wrote on Twitter, addressing Hallmark.“They’ll be out celebrating with their ‘families’ wives, children, friends on & on & getting married in chic ensembles. Didn’t you all get the memo? Family is all inclusive.” The developments came as Hallmark appeared to be considering more same- sex-themed content. Asked about the possibility of holiday movies based on same-sex relationships, Abbott was quoted in The Hollywood Reporter in mid-November as saying on its TV podcast: “We’re open to really any type of movie of any type of relationship.” Under pressure, Hallmark pulls gay-themed wedding ads This image, made from undated video provided by Zola, shows a scene from its advertisement. AP MIAMI (AP): A MIAMI couple who bought a headline-grabbing banana duct- taped to a wall have acknowledged the absurdity of the artwork but say that they believe it will become an icon and plan to gift it to a museum. Billy and Beatrice Cox said in a statement that they spent more than US$100,000 on the “unicorn of the art world”after seeing“the public debate it sparked about art and our society”. The conceptual artwork – Comedian , by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan – was the talk of last week’s Art Basel Miami. The artist sold three editions, each in the US$120,000 to US$150,000 range, according to the Perrotin gallery. “We are acutely aware of the blatant absurdity of the fact that Comedian is an otherwise inexpensive and perishable piece of produce and a couple inches of duct tape,” the Coxes said. “Ultimately, we sense that Cattelan’s banana will become an iconic historical object.” The piece was widely parodied on social media. Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest framed a bagel with a piece of duct tape over it and Brooke Shields taped a banana to her forehead, writing, “An expensive selfie,” on Instagram. Yesterday at the art fair, Georgia- born artist David Datuna removed the latest iteration of the banana from the wall, unpeeled it, and took a bite as a large crowd documented the moment with their phones. “I respect Maurizio, but it’s art performance: Hungry artist,” said Datuna, who was not among the buyers. The piece became such a focus of gawking that the gallery removed it on Sunday for the final day to encourage viewers to see the rest of the art fair. PIECE TO BE GIFTED The Miami couple – whose purchase included a ‘certificate of authenticity’ along with the banana and the piece of tape – said they plan to loan and later gift the work to an unspecified art institution in hopes of attracting new generations to the museum. They plan to throw out old bananas when appropriate.“Yes … the banana itself will need to be replaced,” they said. The couple compared the artwork to AndyWarhol’s now iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans , which they said was initially “met with mockery”. Critics reasoned that they could easily recreate the pricey art following a quick trip to the grocery store, but the gallery said in a statement that certificates of authenticity are crucial in conceptual art. Without one,“a piece of conceptual artwork is nothing more than its material representation”. Couple who bought US$120k banana art sense it will be iconic In this December 4 photo, gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin poses next to Italian artist Maurizio Cattlelan’s ‘Comedian’ at the Art Basel exhibition in Miami Beach, Florida. AP