More Photos...India May Arrest Richard Gere Over Kiss Thursday April 26 8:18 AM ET
A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function "transgressed all limits of vulgarity," media reports said.
Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants in the northwestern city of Jaipur after a local citizen filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Gupta earlier viewed television footage of the event, which he called "highly sexually erotic," saying the pair violated India's strict public obscenity laws.
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Gere and Shetty "transgressed all limits of vulgarity and have the tendency to corrupt the society," PTI quoted the judge as saying.
Such cases against celebrities often filed by publicity seekers are common in conservative India. They add to a backlog of legal cases that has nearly crippled the country's judicial system.
Gere left India shortly after the kissing incident and it was not immediately clear how the warrant would affect him.
Gere is a frequent visitor to India, promoting health issues and the cause of Tibetan exiles. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has his headquarters in the north Indian town of Dharmsala.
Under Indian law a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine, or both.
Last week, crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of the 57-year-old star of "An Officer and a Gentleman" "American Gigolo" and "Pretty Woman" after he embraced Shetty and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an HIV/AIDS awareness event in the Indian capital.
Photographs of the clinch were then splashed across front pages in India where public displays of affection are largely taboo.
The judge lambasted Shetty for not resisting Gere's kisses and ordered her to appear in his court May 5, PTI said. A spokesman for Shetty declined comment.
The event's organizer, Parmeshwar Godrej, called the controversy a distraction from more important issues.
"It has detracted from and undermined the value and success of the event, which was concerned with creating AIDS awareness and promoting AIDS prevention among truck drivers," CNN-IBN quoted her as saying.
Shetty, 31, has said the embrace was not obscene and that the media should instead focus on HIV/AIDS awareness.
"I understand this is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such manner," she told PTI last week.
"I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here," PTI quoted her as saying.
Shetty, already well-known in India, became an international star after her appearance on the British reality show "Celebrity Big Brother" another controversial public appearance. A fellow contestant, Jade Goody, sparked international headlines by making allegedly racist comments to Shetty. Mobs took to the streets of India to denounce Goody, and Shetty went on to win the competition.
Just a matter of time By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports March 12, 2007 All along, James Dolan had been determined to keep Isiah Thomas. Everyone knew that. The Knicks' bumbling owner has been so wrong, so often, that he lives for validations of his vision. Those can be real, or imagined. He isn't choosy. Dolan doesn't chase success, as much as snarly, "I told you so's," to the paying public and press. Less than halfway into the Knicks' season that he originally demanded "evident progress" to spare Isiah Thomas his job, Dolan played his hand, bemoaning that firing him would've meant starting over for this franchise. This sounded so unappealing to Dolan, and it's clear such an act would've been nothing but a final resort brought on by complete collapse. As soft as an ultimatum as had been delivered – simply showing progress on a program that had flat-lined a season ago under the sabotage of the deposed Larry Brown – Thomas has done a good job coaching with the Knicks. He's walked the line between tough and nurturing, and restored some confidence, some belief, to a punch-drunk roster. Before the bids went out for the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday, Dolan told his president and coach that he's keeping him on the job. Hey, there are worse executives running teams in the NBA, and worse coaches too. Before this season, no one wanted to believe it, but it's true. So, he stays. ADVERTISEMENT "Isiah Thomas' stewardship of the Knicks, both as president and head coach, has clearly resulted in the team's 'significant improvement' and I am very pleased to provide him with this well deserved extension," Dolan said in his statement on Monday. Significant is stretching it, but whatever. This is Dolan's Garden, where old standards of success have been stripped to the bones. So far, Isiah has given Dolan what few expected possible – a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs – and the owner was eager to use that as an opening to give him an extension. The Knicks are mired in one of the most embarrassing races in the history of the conference, looking like princes in the company of the free-falling Pacers, Nets and Magic. Thomas has won six more games, 29, than the Knicks a year ago, when his inevitably dysfunctional relationship with Brown reduced the season to rubble. Now, young center Eddy Curry has legitimized the steep trade price that Thomas paid for him. David Lee has turned into one of the sharpest draft picks in years. Stephon Marbury conformed his game for Thomas, the way he never did for Brown. This is still a flawed, overpriced payroll, but there is a developing young core. There are some possibilities here, and Thomas has done a terrific job nurturing them this season. In some many ways, this is a fragile group, and when the Madison Square Garden crowd was constantly booing his team early in the season, he did a good job of protecting his bunch. Thomas kept building it up when everyone else was tearing it down. At times, it looked like his team would collapse under the weight of it all. He never let it. The way his players declared themselves loyal to Thomas' survival cause, you wonder why Dolan was so quick to eliminate the edge out of the season. When they've worked themselves into a playoff spot – partly by default, yes – why not ride whatever dynamic tension played a part? "I feel good that the uncertainty about my professional situation is cleared up," Thomas said. "But again the most important thing is that we keep our team moving forward and we stay focused and continue to try to get into the playoffs." Truth be told, there wasn't much uncertainty. Dolan wants to say that he's gotten something, anything, right in his disastrous run at MSG. He saw a chance with Thomas and took it. Dolan sees progress, "significant, evident progress," he insists, and so, he re-anointed Thomas as team president and coach. The Knicks are better, but still not good. At Dolan's Garden, that turns out to be a winning lottery ticket. Adrian Wojnarowski is the national NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Send Adrian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast. Updated on Monday, Mar 12, 2007 8:12 pm EDT Email to a Friend | View Popular Sponsor Results Isiah Thomas Books at Alibris Buy used, new and hard-to-find books by Isiah Thomas. Great prices, free shipping available. Click here. www.alibris.com More from Adrian Wojnarowski • Blast from the past Mar 11, 2007 • All in the family Mar 10, 2007 Archive Recent News • Clippers-Spurs Preview • Knicks sign coach Isiah Thomas to contract extension • James soaring along with Cavaliers Click Here to Upload Your Home-Made Videos to Ustardom.com
All along, James Dolan had been determined to keep Isiah Thomas. Everyone knew that. The Knicks' bumbling owner has been so wrong, so often, that he lives for validations of his vision. Those can be real, or imagined. He isn't choosy. Dolan doesn't chase success, as much as snarly, "I told you so's," to the paying public and press.
Less than halfway into the Knicks' season that he originally demanded "evident progress" to spare Isiah Thomas his job, Dolan played his hand, bemoaning that firing him would've meant starting over for this franchise.
This sounded so unappealing to Dolan, and it's clear such an act would've been nothing but a final resort brought on by complete collapse.
As soft as an ultimatum as had been delivered – simply showing progress on a program that had flat-lined a season ago under the sabotage of the deposed Larry Brown – Thomas has done a good job coaching with the Knicks. He's walked the line between tough and nurturing, and restored some confidence, some belief, to a punch-drunk roster.
Before the bids went out for the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday, Dolan told his president and coach that he's keeping him on the job. Hey, there are worse executives running teams in the NBA, and worse coaches too. Before this season, no one wanted to believe it, but it's true. So, he stays.
"Isiah Thomas' stewardship of the Knicks, both as president and head coach, has clearly resulted in the team's 'significant improvement' and I am very pleased to provide him with this well deserved extension," Dolan said in his statement on Monday.
Significant is stretching it, but whatever. This is Dolan's Garden, where old standards of success have been stripped to the bones. So far, Isiah has given Dolan what few expected possible – a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs – and the owner was eager to use that as an opening to give him an extension. The Knicks are mired in one of the most embarrassing races in the history of the conference, looking like princes in the company of the free-falling Pacers, Nets and Magic.
Thomas has won six more games, 29, than the Knicks a year ago, when his inevitably dysfunctional relationship with Brown reduced the season to rubble. Now, young center Eddy Curry has legitimized the steep trade price that Thomas paid for him. David Lee has turned into one of the sharpest draft picks in years. Stephon Marbury conformed his game for Thomas, the way he never did for Brown.
This is still a flawed, overpriced payroll, but there is a developing young core. There are some possibilities here, and Thomas has done a terrific job nurturing them this season. In some many ways, this is a fragile group, and when the Madison Square Garden crowd was constantly booing his team early in the season, he did a good job of protecting his bunch. Thomas kept building it up when everyone else was tearing it down. At times, it looked like his team would collapse under the weight of it all.
He never let it. The way his players declared themselves loyal to Thomas' survival cause, you wonder why Dolan was so quick to eliminate the edge out of the season. When they've worked themselves into a playoff spot – partly by default, yes – why not ride whatever dynamic tension played a part?
"I feel good that the uncertainty about my professional situation is cleared up," Thomas said. "But again the most important thing is that we keep our team moving forward and we stay focused and continue to try to get into the playoffs."
Truth be told, there wasn't much uncertainty. Dolan wants to say that he's gotten something, anything, right in his disastrous run at MSG. He saw a chance with Thomas and took it. Dolan sees progress, "significant, evident progress," he insists, and so, he re-anointed Thomas as team president and coach. The Knicks are better, but still not good. At Dolan's Garden, that turns out to be a winning lottery ticket.
Adrian Wojnarowski is the national NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Send Adrian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
I have been hearing about these new producers called Trackzillas. I got to really tell you the truth. I had no Idea that these guys were this good. I first heard that remix of Omarion's song Called "IceBox." I heard the little Trackzillas voice over on the track and thought that was very clever. I asked myself "who are these guys." I kept hearing about them on mix shows on the local radio station in NYC (Hot 97 and Power 105 F), but I still didn't pay it any mind, until I heard the remix of Mario's song Called "Go." I Immediately went to google search and sure enough! There it was! I saw all the "oopla" and the numerous right-ups about these dudes! Hey, I got to tell you the truth! These guys got my vote! They are new to the game, but they are Damn Good at making those incredible Remixes of your favorite artist!
Rumor has it that there is a new Myspace. This new Myspace is probably MyspaceStardom.com because this website is very similar in many ways to the old myspace. The most interesting thing about MyspaceStardom.com is that all its members are able to make money on their profile pages by posting banner and text ads from Google Adsense, a Google Advertising program which allows website owners to make money by placing adsense ads on their websites. Eventhough, these members don't necessarily own the website, they own the pages of the website. On the other hand, the other myspace don't allow its members to post Google Ads on their profile pages. This is the main difference that I have noticed between the two social sites. Other differences noticed was the "Send Crush" feature available on MyspaceStardom.com. This feature allows members to send crushes to each other. This will let the receiver of the crush message know that someone has a crush on him or her. Both Myspaces have Video and Music upload features. When members upload mp3s, a music player automatically appears. The only thing that the popular myspace.com has over MyspaceStardom.com is that it is more popular at the moment. This could change in the near future because on MyspaceStardom.com members are allowed to post as many bulletins as they wish. However, on the old myspace, a member has to wait for many hours after he or she post a bulletin before he/she can post another one. Promoters and advetisers want to promote has many products as possible in a given time and MyspaceStardom.com gives these promoters and advertisers the ability to do this unlike the old myspace. So, we could possibly see a change in power at the top of the Social Networking Websites Food Chain! As we all know, things change over time! Are we really witnessing an all out economic boxing match between the two social sites, MyspaceStardom.com and Myspace.com? Well, we shall see in the next blog of the New Myspace at MyspaceStardom.com.
