How fast celebrities forget their fans, the same fans who have financially enabled them to be able to afford a mansion in Malibu in the first place. Without paparazzi, celebrities fade as fast as their last TV show, movie or album. Malibu based celebrities have to realize that they are dependent upon the paparazzi. The fans who buy magazines like “People” and watch TV shows like TMZ, that the paparazzi supply, are the same folks who support the celebrities by buying their albums, DVDs, watching their movies and TV shows, and buying their branded products.
The allure of riches and celebrity life in Malibu is the dream of humdrum middle America and the rest of the world. By running the paparazzi out of Malibu, we are destroying our own Malibu glitz, glamour, economy and future. As a devoted, outspoken Malibu local, and one of the original producers of Entertainment Tonight, I know first hand how hard it is for celebrities to maintain their on-going appeal among their fans, without the paparazzi following and photographing them. Malibu is the only place on earth where celebrities can live like everyday people, and that is what the paparazzi want to photograph. However, without paparazzi their careers would fade awfully fast. Life in Malibu, even in tabloid photographs, is the dream of fans throughout the world. Please don’t destroy the mystique of Malibu and its celebrities with anti-paparazzi laws.
Ed Meyer