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It is now being widely reported that Sasha Baron Cohen's aerial assault on Eminem at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards was staged. This seemed obvious from the outset—no matter how well Eminem's post-addiction 12-stepping is going, it beggars belief that he could react to a prank of this nature with such Zen-like restraint. God knows, men have been pummeled by rappers' bodyguards for lesser offenses than a nationally televised tea-bagging.
And so we are left to contemplate an icky publicity stunt, designed to drum up business for Eminem's new album, Baron Cohen's forthcoming Bruno movie, and MTV itself. As the cable network, with palpable desperation, sought to replicate its past awards show succès de scandales—Howard Stern's Fartman flight from the rafters; Eminem's showdown with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog—viewers were treated to the spectacle of two talented and presumably self-respecting artists publicly humiliating themselves in a witless shock-comedy sweat-act, complete with schwanz jokes that would have bombed at Grossinger's 60 years ago.
That Eminem and Baron-Cohen, who have both demonstrated comedic genius in the past, didn't recognize the banality of this gag (as Paris Hilton evidently did) speaks to the lengths to which celebrities will go in pursuit of viral-video success, which, these days, is the best promotion, the real fame. Forget the rapper and the comedian and all of the glittering A-listers on hand—the elephants in the room Sunday night were the dancing baby, the "Charlie bit me!" kid, and the Chocolate Rain dude. Of course, the way things are going, at next year's awards there will be actual elephants in the room, moving their bowels on Andy Samberg's head. LOL!
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If we are what we Google, then Google Hot Trends—an hourly rundown of search terms "that experience sudden surges in popularity"—is the Web's best cultural barometer. Here's a sampling of today's top searches. (Rankings on Hot Trends list current as of 9 a.m.)
No. 1 "air france flight status": Six of this morning's top 10 Google searches are about Air France 447, which has disappeared on its way from Rio to Paris. The plane, which took off in heavy turbulence, last made radar contact near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha—today's fifth-trendiest search term—300 kilometers off Brazil's northeastern coast. Agence France-Presse quotes a Paris airport official: "We are very worried. ... It could be a transponder problem, but this kind of fault is very rare and the plane did not land when expected."
No. 2 "susan boyle hospitalized": The British tabs are reporting that the YouTube sensation, a surprise loser in this weekend's final episode of Britain's Got Talent, has checked into a private clinic on account of "exhaustion." According to the Sun, "the 48-year-old virgin" (also referred to as "SuBo") was taken to the hospital by paramedics after "acting strangely at her London hotel." Eleven spots down the Trends list: searches for Susan Boyle's performance on the BGT finale. Not seen in the top 100: Diversity, the dance troupe that beat out Boyle for the top prize.
No. 8 "eminem bruno": The highlight of last night's MTV Movie Awards, at least Google-wise, came when Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno—"the host of Austrian gay TV"—floated down from the rafters a la Howard Stern's Fartman. Baron Cohen, outfitted in a thong and angel wings, touched down with his crotch in Eminem's face; the rapper stormed off, leading to speculation about whether the stunt was real or fake. Considering that both performers are aggressively promoting new material—and considering that the guy who was "accidentally" teabagged was miked in the audience—evidence points to fake. (Other Google Trends inspired by the MTV awards: "kristen stewart drops award," "new moon trailer official," and "the hills season 6 preview.")
—Josh Levin
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