Here's Nelly, Nelly's friend, Justin Bartha from "National Treasure," and Larry David courtside at Sunday's Knicks-Spurs game.
Queue the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" outro music.
Larry David's sock game is so tight: pic.twitter.com/T5C0lLgpNV
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) November 13, 2013
MSNBC announced Friday that Alec Baldwin's new show would be suspended after the actor had an "anti-gay freak out" against a paparazzi, calling him a gay slur earlier this week.
Baldwin, speaking for the first time since being suspended by the network, has written a lengthy blog post for The Huffington Post titled "Two Requests in Light of Recent Events."
The piece starts off with Baldwin attempting to clarify that he is not, in fact, a "homophobic bigot," but has actually been "a supporter of gay rights for many years."
Baldwin goes on to address "the decision by MSNBC to suspend my show."
My producers and I had a very enlightening and well-researched program prepared to air on November 22nd itself, dealing with John Kennedy's assassination. That show is off the air now ... It's heartbreaking to me that the show, meant to coincide with the actual anniversary, will not be aired that night.
He then goes on to slam CNN and Anderson Cooper directly:
We do take a small amount of pride in knowing that we beat CNN in the ratings each of our nights. (I forget who they had on at that time.)
Baldwin ends with a thoughtful, impassioned plea for "tabloid press" to leave him and his family alone:
My wife is a young mother with a newborn child. Yet reporters harass and hector her and our baby outside our home in ways that approximate a hockey brawl. It is shameful. And it should be illegal.
I am concerned for my family. In Bloomberg's New York, forty or fifty paparazzi are allowed to block streets, inconvenience homeowners, workers and shoppers, and make life miserable for my neighbors. ... They provoke me, daily, by getting dangerously close to me with their cameras as weapons, hoping I will react. When I do, the weapon doubles as a device to record my reaction. And then, apparently, I lose every time ...
This country's obsession with the private lives of famous people is tragic. It's tragic in the sense that it is so clearly a projection of people's frustration about their government, their economy, their own spiritual bankruptcy. You have no voice in Washington. In Washington, or in any statehouse, no one actually cares what you think. So you post online, you vote with a Roman-esque thumbs up or down on the celebrity debacle of the day. That is your right. It's also fatal misdirection of your voice and need to judge. Occupy Wall Street, on their worst day, had more integrity than the comments page of this website ever will.
To read Baldwin's full post on HuffingtonPost.com, click here >
SEE ALSO: MSNBC Temporarily Pulls Alec Baldwin's Show Following His Anti-Gay Freakout
As friends and family mourn the tragic loss of actor Paul Walker, stories are beginning to emerge that reveal what kind person he really was.
This is just one of those stories.
Several years ago, Walker walked into Bailey Banks and Biddle Jewelers in Santa Barbara, Calif., to browse for some high-end jewelry, according to sales associate Irene King. Also in the store were a military veteran who had just finished his first tour of duty in Iraq and his fiancee. They were reportedly looking for an engagement ring.
“There’s Paul Walker,” King recalled another sales associate telling her.
“I said, ‘Yeah, he’s a nice-looking man,’” King told CBS Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the Iraq veteran and his fiancee had finally found a ring set they really liked, but it far too expensive at $10,000.
“Honey, I can’t afford that,” the veteran reportedly told his fiancee.
Walker then reportedly called over the store manager and told him to put the expensive ring on his “tab.” However, he asked that his identity be kept a secret. While many actors would have made sure the act of charity was on the front page of every tabloid, that was clearly not Walker’s motive.
“To do something like that to a perfect stranger is just unbelievable,” King said.
King posted the story on Walker’s Facebook page, where thousands of people have remembered the 40-year-old star as “generous,” “loving” and with a “heart of gold,” Yahoo! reports.
Walker died in fiery car crash in north of Los Angeles on Sunday following a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.
The Santa Clarita Valley Signal reported that the Porsche crashed into a light pole and tree and burst into flames. The fundraiser, to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan, took place at a nearby racecar shop.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ben Affleck is peeved at the paparazzi.
In a new Playboy interview, the 41-year-old father of three explains to the magazine what he calls “the crucible by flashbulb.”
“You can say what you want about me. You can yell at me with a video camera and be TMZ. You can follow me around and take pictures all you want. I don’t care. There are a couple of guys outside right now. Terrific. That’s part of the deal,” says Affleck.
But when it comes to his family and young children, the future Batman is fiercely protective.
“It’s wrong and disgusting to follow children around and take their picture and sell it for money,” he says. “It makes the kids less safe. They used to take pictures of our children coming out of preschool, and so this stalker who had threatened to kill me, my wife and our kids showed up at the school and got arrested. I mean, there are real practical dangers to this.”
Affleck continues, “My kids aren’t celebrities. They never made that bargain. We were offered a lot of money to sell pictures of our kids when they were born. You’ll notice there aren’t any. I make no judgment about people who decide differently; a lot of them give the money to charity. For me it was a matter of principle. I didn’t want someone to be able to come back and say I was complicit, that it wasn’t a question of principle as much as price.”
And he didn't stop there.
“The tragic thing is, people who see those pictures naturally think it’s sweet," Affleck explains. "They don’t see the gigantic former gang member with a huge lens standing over a four-year-old and screaming to get the kid’s attention.”
“The kids are always looking down because they’re freaked out and scared of these people. And so they yell. Which is fine if you’re Lindsay Lohan coming out of a club, or me or any adult,” adds Affleck. “With kids it’s tasteless at best.”
The issue is clearly something Affleck's family feels strongly about.
In August, his wife, actress Jennifer Garner, testified in defense of stricter laws preventing paparazzi from terrorizing celebrity kids.
SEE ALSO: Jennifer Garner And Halle Berry Fight To Prevent Paparazzi From Terrorizing Celebrity Kids
What drives people to trust the health advice of celebrities, even though most of these individuals clearly have no medical background, and even tough their advice often goes against convention and logic? Blame it on your brain.
Humans' gray matter is hardwired to trust celebrities, according to researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. They reviewed more than 200 years' worth of data, and concluded that something deeper than mere cultural norms is at play.
Their analysis appears today (Dec. 17) in the journal BMJ.
Celebrities can play an important role in educating the public about health issues, said Steven Hoffman, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at McMaster University's DeGroote School of Medicine, and lead author on the report. Michael J. Fox, for example, has raised considerable awareness — and research dollars — for Parkinson's disease, which he suffers from. Sir Elton John has raised awareness about HIV-AIDS.
Such celebrities do a world of good, Hoffman said. On the other end of the spectrum, however, you find Suzanne Somers and Jenny McCarthy, whose advice on hormone therapy and vaccine avoidance, respectively, is of grave concern to most doctors, he said.
Some people view Somers, in particular, as either a health authority or health pioneer, even though she continues to display a complete misunderstanding of basic science, both during television appearances and in her books. Considering what is at stake — the possibility of developing cancer from the hormone therapy that Somers advocates — one would think women would instead trust their doctors or other health authorities and steer clear of unproven, unregulated hormone treatments. [10 Celebrities with Chronic Illnesses]
But the brain nixes such logic, according to Hoffman and his co-author, medical student Charlie Tan.
"Our study's findings not only apply to health decisions, but [also to] any type of decision we make," Hoffman told LiveScience. "We thought it was particularly scary that celebrities seem to have influence over our health decisions when the vast majority of them have no medical expertise. Or at least, they have far less expertise and knowledge of our individual health needs than our own doctors."
Hoffman said there are "deeply rooted biological, psychological and social forces" that make celebrity health advice influential. These forces include psychological effects such as classical conditioning, self-conception, cognitive dissonance, the halo effect and herd behavior.
For example, under the halo effect, the brain confuses success in one field (for example, Playboy modeling, or whatever movie Jenny McCarthy might be famous for) with success in all fields (including medical advocacy).
Due to classical conditioning, the positive responses people tend to have towards a celebrity transfer to whatever that celebrity is pushing. Because of self-conception, people assume the positive traits they have assigned to the celebrity, such as attractiveness or hipness, also apply to that celebrity's cause. Herd behavior allows celebrities to trigger a person's natural tendency to act as others act in similar situations.
And thanks to cognitive dissonance, people "unconsciously rationalize following celebrity medical advice to reduce the psychological discomfort that may otherwise result from holding incompatible views," Hoffman and Tan wrote.
For this analysis, the researchers dug into research dating back to 1804, examining a mix of economic, marketing, psychology, sociology and medical studies.
"Of course, not everything celebrities say is bad," Hoffman said. "But after looking at many celebrity health claims over time, there's a clear trend that they are more often wrong than anything else."
Celebrity health advice gets taken out of context, ignores risks and is often influenced by the celebrities' own financial interests, Hoffman said. "And even when they are well-meaning, their advice is rarely evidence-based, or best for health or the pocketbook."
The medical community could use celebrities' influence for good by partnering with them in productive ways, Hoffmam said. And health professionals should know what celebrities are saying in order to counter their advice, if needed, he said.
Follow Christopher Wanjek @wanjekfor daily tweets on health and science with a humorous edge. Wanjek is the author of "Food at Work" and "Bad Medicine." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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SEE ALSO: More Studies Show That Multivitamins Are A Total Waste Of Money
Ever since actress Gwyneth Paltrow crowned herself a lifestyle aficionado with the launch of her newsletter, “Goop,” in 2008, she hasn’t stopped spreading her gospel.
Check out some of her most over-the-top quotes below:
Each year, the online charity auction site Charitybuzz brings together celebrities, luminaries, and brands to benefit a variety of charities — from Sandy Hook Promise to Kenya Education Fund.
In 2013, Charitybuzz raised $30 million by auctioning off close to 12,000 packages.
In November, the site reached a milestone of raising a total of $100 million for nonprofits since launching.
Charitybuzz shared their list of 2013 celebrity auctions with us.
Here are the expensive celebrity auctions, from least to most expensive:
25. For $26,000, a lucky fan attended the premiere of Lee Daniels’ The Butler, plus met Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Lee Daniels on the red carpet. Proceeds went to La Jolla Playhouse.
24. Someone paid $28,500 to enjoy lunch with Harrison Ford at Ford's Filling Station. Proceeds benefited the Tug McGraw Foundation.
23. It cost $32,500 to spend a day with the founder and executive chairman of GoDaddy Bob Parsons. Proceeds went to the GO Campaign.
22. A person paid $33, 125 to pitch a business idea to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Proceeds benefited WWE Superstars for Sandy Relief.
21. For $35,000, a lucky diner had the opportunity to attend a private dinner party with President Clinton, Ben Affleck, and Eddie Vedder. Proceeds went to The Clinton Foundation and the Eastern Congo Initiative.
20. $35,001 earned someone the chance to join Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson on stage with a Simply Shakespeare walk-on role. Proceeds benefited The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.
19. Someone paid $36,000 to enjoy a round of golf with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Proceeds benefited The Humane Society of the United States.
18. It cost $37,500 to join Rosie O’Donnell and Cyndi Lauper to watch Kinky Boots on Broadway. Proceeds benefited Rosie's Theater Kids.
17. For $40,000, someone joined Julia Roberts for an intimate lunch at the Soho House West Hollywood. Proceeds went to GLSEN.
16. $40,500 got someone a flight on Virgin America to meet Sir Richard Branson for a bottle of champagne at a secret destination. Proceeds went to Do Something.
15. For $45,000, one lucky person enjoyed a walk-on role in the upcoming Superman/Batman film starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Amy Adams. Proceeds benefited the Dominic M. Aguilar Special Needs Trust.
14. Someone paid $50,000 to tour the SpaceX Center in Los Angeles and have lunch with CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk. Proceeds benefited Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
13. $52,000 was paid to sit in on The Howard Stern Show and meet Howard Stern and team. Proceeds went to Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research.
12. $57,000 earned someone two tickets to the star-studded 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Afterparty. The proceeds benefited The Windward School.
11. For $63,000, someone took home a Limited Edition LeBron James Audemars Piguet watch, plus enjoyed dinner with LeBron’s manager Maverick Carter and VIP Heat tickets. Proceeds benefited The LeBron James Family Foundation.
10. A person paid $66,000 to meet Katy Perry at any upcoming show. Proceeds went to Musicians on Call.
9. Someone dished out $72,5000 to meet Bruce Springsteen with tickets and E Street Lounge passes to two shows. Proceeds benefited The Kristen Ann Carr Fund.
8. For $75,000, someone earned the chance to enjoy coffee with Steve Perry, former lead singer of Journey. Proceeds benefited City of Hope.
7. For $85,000, a person earned the opportunity to sit one-on-one with Harvey Weinstein at a private meeting plus attend The Weinstein Company’s Oscars and Golden Globes Parties. Proceeds benefited The Rose House.
6. A person paid $91,000 to enjoy a power lunch with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer at Yahoo!'s headquarters. Proceeds went to Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School.
5. $96,001 earned someone an appearance in American Hustle starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale and Amy Adams with a speaking role. Proceeds went to the Kenny Gordon Foundation.
4. Someone paid $110,000 to enjoy dinner for four with President Clinton. Proceeds went to Oceana.
3. It cost $150,000 to score a private tennis lesson with Rafael Nadal. Proceeds benefited The Rafa Nadal Foundation.
2. For $156,000, someone will enjoy an all-you-can-eat tour of See’s Candy Factory plus meet Warren Buffett. Proceeds benefited Communities in Schools Los Angeles.
1. For $610,000, someone won the opportunity to have coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters. Proceeds go to The RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.
SEE ALSO: Now check out the real names celebrities ditched for fame
Russell Johnson, who played the professor on “Gilligan’s Island,” died Thursday morning, his agent told TheWrap. He was 89.
Johnson, the last surviving male castmember of the CBS sitcom, died at his home in Washington state of natural causes, his agent confirmed.
Johnson earned a Purple Heart as an aviation cadet in the Air Force during World War II before rising to fame on "Gilligan's island," which ran from 1964 to 1967.
The actor went on to guest-star on a slew of TV shows, but his last on-screen credit was in 1997.
Johnson published his memoirs, "Here on Gilligan's Isle," which offers fans behind-the-scenes anecdotes and answers the oft-asked question: how was the professor able to build a nuclear reactor and a car but never a boat?
Dawn Wells and Tina Louise (Mary Ann and Ginger) are the last surviving "Gilligan's Island" castmembers.
“My 2 favorite people are now gone. The Professor past away this morning. My heart is broken,” Wells wrote on Facebook, referring to Johnson and star Bob Denver, who died in 2005.
She added, “Russell was a true gentleman, a good father, a great friend, and ‘the rest.’ I love him and shall miss him. My heart goes out to [his wife] Connie and his daughter Kim. I love you."
SEE ALSO: Playboy Playmate Found Dead At Age 34
Before Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Ellen DeGeneres, Betty White was the Queen of Comedy — pioneering her way from the radio airwaves to quiz shows and sitcoms.
She made a name for herself on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Golden Girls." In the past few years, White has made a huge TV comeback with cameos on "Community" and "The Middle" before shattering ratings on "Saturday Night Live."
Today, our favorite "Golden Girl" turns 92, and she's still a powerhouse in Hollywood.
Her TV Land show "Hot in Cleveland" will start its fifth season in March. And despite her NBC comedy show "Off Their Rockers" getting axed last year, Lifetime will bring back the series this year for a 20-episode season.
However, how much do you really know about White?
We dug through LIFE's illustrated biography of Betty White to learn what you don't know about the funny woman.
She nearly left the biz before making it big, and almost wasn't on the "Mary Tyler Moore."
White hung around in producer Fran Van Hartesveldt office until he decided to offer her a job in the commercial.
This led to her appearance on radio show "The Great Gildersleeve," also headed by Hartesveldt.
(Betty White: The Illustrated Biography)
The actress said they were never her thing.
"I just want to bring as much natural as I can," said White. "I'm not saying that people who take acting lessons are false. They're much better than I am, but it doesn't work for me."
(Betty White: The Illustrated Biography)
White opened up to the Canadian Press while discussing her role in animated film "The Lorax" which had the actress sing a few bars.
"When I was a youngster, I wanted to be an opera singer, so I took very serious singing lessons."
With so many sequels over the last couple of years, it's easy to forget that some follow-ups take a long time to get made.
Take, for example, "Dumb and Dumber To." The film, whose trailer was just released, took 20 years to get Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to reprise their roles.
Other series like "Toy Story" and "Terminator" have also had belated installments, and while some have been successful, just as many have been flops.
The biggest sequel time gap on our list is also one of the most anticipated, the next film in the "Star Wars" saga "Star Wars: Episode VII."
With the return of fan favorites like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamil, and Carrie Fisher along with a bunch of talented newcomers, "Episode VII" is bound to be the biggest "Star Wars" film since 1984's "Return of the Jedi."
Sure, the film is only 10 years off from "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" but considering that director JJ Abrams may be going back to the original trilogy's practical style (and many fans would like to just forget the prequels outright) we'll consider this a true sequel.
After an Oscar-winning performance for “Wall Street,” the announcement of a sequel with Michael Douglas more than two decades after the original was extremely exciting.
"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" was met with decidedly mixed reviews. Some adored the references to the original film and loved the return of Douglas’ Gordon Gekko, while others were totally bored.
Shia LaBeouf, who was also in "Crystal Skull," also starred in the film.
Everything seemed in place for the globe-trotting archaeologist to have another hit on his hands almost 20 years after 1989's “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Harrison Ford was back in the fedora and Steven Spielberg returned to the director’s chair.
However, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was a total letdown.
The story veered into alien territory (literally) and disappointed many fans of the series. There's always talk of another sequel, but if it’s anything like “Crystal Skull” we’d be afraid to see what they come up with next.
Jenny McCarthy, a celebrity who introduced herself to the world on the pages of Playboy 20 years ago, is the proud owner of a Pigasus award, bestowed every April Fool's day on "the performer who fooled the greatest number of people using the least talent".
Ms McCarthy, an anti-vaccination campaigner, says she is not opposed to vaccination.
But she has defended debunked claims that jabs can trigger autism, and reckons her son was cured of his autism through vitamins and diet.
More recently the anti-vaccination cause has been taken up by Alicia Silverstone, an actress whose name may now forever be linked to "Clueless" (pictured), a 1995 update of Jane Austen's Emma in which she starred.
Whooping cough (pertussis), a contagious bacterial infection that is deeply unpleasant for adults and can be fatal for small children, was supposed to have been largely eradicated from the United States, thanks to widespread vaccination. Infections fell from 222,202 in 1941 to 1,010 in 1976. But lately it has made an unwelcome return. In 2012 48,277 cases were reported, the highest figure in over half a century.
On June 13th California declared an epidemic; 3,458 cases, including two deaths, have been reported so far this year. Other parts of the country, including Tennessee and Alabama, have also seen big rises, and there has been a worrying climb in measles cases.
Ms McCarthy and her ill-informed followers bear only part of the blame. At least as important is the phasing-out, in the 1990s, of an old vaccine which had nasty side-effects. The immunity conferred by the replacement appears to wear off sooner; health officials urge older children and adults to take a booster jab, but few do. Still, kooky anti-vaccination fears appear to be doing real harm.
A study of a 2010 whooping-cough epidemic in California, in which ten babies died, found that areas where many people refused to vaccinate their kids were 2.5 times likelier to have high incidences of whooping cough. No such study has been conducted on this year's outbreak, although the wealthy coastal enclaves of Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties are among the hardest-hit.
Listening to the ideas of Californian celebrities has not always been bad for Americans, as Ronald Reagan demonstrated. But when it comes to vaccination, probably best to leave it to the experts.
Click here to subscribe to The Economist
Beyoncé beat out husband Jay Z, billionaire Dr. Dre, Oprah Winfrey, and many other musicians, athletes, and actors to take the top spot on Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful Celebrities.
The 32-year-old singer played 95 shows this year, bringing in an average $2.4 million per stop, according to Pollstar. Additionally, Beyoncé's single “Drunk in Love,” off of her surprise iTunes "Visual Album," went platinum after selling more than 1 million copies.
Forbes reports Beyoncé "earns millions endorsing companies like H&M and Pepsi" and "has a line of fragrances ... then there’s her clothing company House of Dereon, which features jeans, shoes and accessories. All together we estimate that Beyoncé earned $115 million between June 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014."
Here's who else made Forbes' Top 10:
1. Beyoncé
2. LeBron James
3. Dr. Dre
6. Jay Z
8. Rihanna
9. Katy Perry
Forbes calculates its rankings based on a mixture of estimated earnings, Internet presence, marketability, and press mentions.
To see the rest of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list, click here >
SEE ALSO: Chris Rock Skewers Donald Sterling, Jay Z, Dr. Dre In BET Awards Monologue
While plenty of celebrities, actors, and athletes already use Facebook, there's now an app to help them post.
'Mentions' is basically the traditional Facebook app, but it's tailored to help important people "discover and join conversations" happening on Facebook.
In order to be able to use Mentions, Re/code reports that you'll have to be a verified Facebook user with a public page. If you have an iPhone, you can download Mentions here, but unless you have one of those blue check marks next to your name, you'll be out of luck.
The focus of Mentions is to encourage celebrities and other public figures to engage more on the social network, and there's even an option to host a live Q&A session with fans.
Facebook claims that it's already seen celebrities posting twice as often when testing the app.
The most notable user of Mentions so far was seen by millions.
The video of actor Tyrese Gibson and Dr. Dre celebrating Apple's acquisition of Beats was posted using Mentions. And while it was taken down amidst rumors of the deal falling through, it's the first feather in Facebook's cap, and it goes to show that people enjoy watching celebrities at their most natural and carefree.
Facebook wants to encourage this type of natural interaction between celebrities and fans, and Mentions features a specific Mentions tab that's basically Facebook's attempt to clone Twitter's "@" tab.
The Mentions tab will act as an alternate News Feed of sorts, allowing the famous to keep track of people, well, mentioning them.
It's yet another feature Facebook has graciously borrowed from Twitter, and it goes to show that Facebook is interested in better connecting the world of celebrity with those interested in keeping up.
You can learn more about Mentions over at Facebook's official Mentions page.
SEE ALSO: I'm 22 Years Old, And I Grew Up Without The Internet
A new survey from Variety shows that YouTube stars are more popular with teenagers than Hollywood A-listers.
The survey encompassed the opinions of 1,500 teenagers on 20 well-known personalities (some from YouTube and some from mainstream media.) The teens were to rank the stars "in terms of approachability, authenticity and other criteria considered aspects of their overall influence."
According to Variety, it was found that "the five most influential figures among Americans ages 13-18 are all YouTube faves, eclipsing mainstream celebs including Jennifer Lawrence and Seth Rogen. The highest-ranking figures were Smosh, the online comedy team of Ian Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla, both 26."
The first Hollywood celeb that appeared on the list was the late Paul Walker at number 6.
Followed by Jennifer Lawrence at number 7.
Looking at survey comments and feedback, teens enjoy an intimate and authentic experience with YouTube celebrities, who aren’t subject to image strategies carefully orchestrated by PR pros. Teens also say they appreciate YouTube stars’ more candid sense of humor, lack of filter and risk-taking spirit, behaviors often curbed by Hollywood handlers.
After news of Robin Williams' tragic death hit late Monday, the world can't consume enough of the comedian's past work.
So much so that his Wikipedia page crashed from all of the traffic.
The page is back up and running now, but moments after Williams' death, here's what the page looked like:
SEE ALSO: Robin Williams Celebrities Celebrities React To The Tragic Death Of Robin Williams
Celebrities from Sarah Michelle Gellar to Questlove have taken to social media to publicly mourn and celebrate the life of Robin Williams.
Norm Macdonald, too, took to Twitter this afternoon to share a personal anecdote about a funny, private moment he shared with Williams before the younger comedian's first appearance on "Letterman."
It's a must-read.
It was my first stand-up appearance on Letterman and I had to follow the funniest man in the world. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014I was a punk kid from rural Ontario and I was in my dressing room, terrified. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014I was on the phone to a friend back home when the funniest man in the world ambled by. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014There was no one else on the floor. In shock, I told my friend who just walked by. Only the funniest man in the world. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014He was a jewish tailor, taking my measurements. He went down on his knees, asked which way I dressed. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014I told my friend on the phone that the funniest man in the world was on his knees before me, measuring my inseam. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014My friend didn't believe me so I said, "Could you talk to my friend, sir. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014The funniest man in the world took the phone and for ten minutes took my friend's chinese food order. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014I laughed and laughed and it was like I was in a dream because no one else was there. No one. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014The place was out of Moo Shoo Pork, and there was nothing he could do about it. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014He angrily hung up on my friend and I was about to thank him when he said I hadn't even tried the jacket on. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014Then the funniest man on earth dressed me, a complete stranger, and i remember he ended with a windsor knot. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014He spoke mostly yiddish, but when he finished he was happy with his job and turned me to a mirror to present myself to me.#RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014No one witnessed any of this. No one. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014The funniest man alive was in my dressing room a good half-hour and was far funnier than the set I had to do soon.#RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014When he left my dressing room, I felt alone. As alone as I ever remember feeling. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014Until today. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014Unacceptable. #RIPRobinWilliams
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 12, 2014
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the hacking and leaking of celebrity nude photos including those of Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence, it has confirmed.
Images of more than 100 well-known actors, singers and celebrities, including what appear to be nude photos and videos, have been exposed by a hacker using the internet forum 4chan.
The hacker posted a list of targeted celebrities on Sunday, as well as a number of nude photos including of Lawrence, who was in The Hunger Games, and others, some of which may be faked.
Lawrence and others affected by the leak have contacted law enforcement, causing an investigation by the FBI.
“The FBI is aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals and is addressing the matter,” said a statement from the Los Angeles FBI. “Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time.”
“This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence,” said Liz Mahoney, publicist for Lawrence, in a statement.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, an actor, and Kate Upton, a Sports Illustrated model, also confirmed that images of them had been stolen and leaked online.
Kirsten Dunst hit out at Apple and its iCloud service (combining pizza and poo emoticons to represent the phrase ‘piece of shit’), which has been the focus of theories from whence the photos came. Apple is currently investigating the theory, although other alternatives including phishing and exposure of details through agents has been posited.
Thank you iCloud����
— Kirsten Dunst (@kirstendunst) September 1, 2014
The alleged hacker, who originally posted the list of celebrities and photos on the 4chan website, wrote on Monday that “I will soon be moving to another location from which I will continue to post”.
“Guys, just to let you know I didn’t do this by myself,” said the hacker. “There are several other people who were in on it and I needed to count on to make this happen. This is the result of several months of long and hard work by all involved.”
Security experts are warning that there could be many more compromised celebrity iCloud accounts after examining data from pictures stolen from Lawrence and Upton.
•Naked celebrity hack: security experts focus on iCloud backup theory
This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk
Earlier this summer, Google started complying with the European Union's controversial "right to be forgotten" ruling, which lets individuals remove search results about them from Google.
As Stewart Baker from the Steptoe Cyberblog points out, Google's method of adhering to the ruling gives you a quick way to find out whether Google thinks of you as a public figure.
Here's how it works:
Because Google is trying to stay transparent, you'll see the following message when you search for anyone's name using a European top-level domain (like google.co.uk):
However, you won't see this message if you search the name of a public figure because Google won't remove search results for famous people.
As Google put it: "Most name queries are for famous people and such searches are very rarely affected by a removal, due to the role played by these persons in public life, we have made a pragmatic choice not to show this notice by default for known celebrities or public figures."
So if you want to know whether Google's algorithms deem you well-known enough to count as a celebrity or public figure, just search your name at google.co.uk. If you don't see a message about removed results, you've made it.
It looks like Apple is already amping up iCloud's security features in response to the recent celebrity photo leak incident.
Just five days after Apple CEO Tim Cook promised to increase the security of iCloud and iTunes, MacRumors reports that Apple has begun sending out email alerts to notify users when their iCloud accounts are accessed via the web.
Apple is also planning on sending out email alerts every time it notices a login from a new device, a password is changed, or anytime a device is restored from an account.
Here's what one of the email alerts looks like, courtesy of MacRumors.
The new security rollout arrives just a day before Apple's highly anticipated product unveiling, where the company is expected to reveal its new iPhone 6 handsets and first wearable device for the wrist.
Both the iPhone and the iWatch are rumored to leverage an NFC chip for wireless payments, and Apple is likely trying to re-establish trust in both its current and future security features before the big event tomorrow.
SEE ALSO: Here's A Good Explanation Of Why So Many Naked Celebrity Pictures Are On iCloud
Some dealers say the celebrity-photo-trading industry died on the afternoon of Labor Day 2014. An anonymous pornography collector, "OriginalGuy," did the unthinkable and set about uploading his entire collection of stolen photographs to the notorious porn forum AnonIB — hundreds of images of 101 different actresses and singers. When users discovered what was happening, they swarmed the site. Eventually he was unable to load the forum to post any more images, so he took to 4chan, the anarchic discussion forum read by thousands.
That's when people really started to notice what was going on.
Hours after OriginalGuy shared hundreds of stolen photographs of female celebrities, the media began to realize what had happened. At first, they weren't sure how to report on the incident. Gossip blogger Perez Hilton re-uploaded stolen naked photographs to his site, and he was forced to issue an apology hours later due to widespread outrage. TMZ, the celebrity news site famed for breaking stories of hacking and sex scandals, took hours to publish anything on the leaked images. It looked like this was a world-first: Hackers had infiltrated Apple's iCloud service and made away with a seemingly endless trove of stolen photographs. But for those in the know, this wasn't new. Rather, it signaled the death of a thriving underground industry that had existed online for years.
This is the story of that death, and the way it led within days to a reconstitution of the marketplace in a new home, where it thrives today.
The pornography forum AnonIB was started in May 2006, formed as an offshoot site of the notorious anonymous message board 4chan. The site was controversial from its very inception. AnonIB has struggled to prevent its users from posting child porn on the site, which includes the subforums "Teens (18+)" and "Drunk/Passed Out." One board proved particularly popular: /stol/, short for "Stolen" and "Obtained Pictures." For years, /stol/ served as a kind of advertising system, almost like a Craigslist for hackers.
Here's the kind of ad users see on AnonIB. This French hacker advertises his services as a "ripper" who can steal naked photographs from iCloud accounts:
But after OriginalGuy posted his trove of photos online, AnonIB was immediately taken down. For two weeks, the site said it was undergoing "scheduled maintenance." The truth was that the site's anonymous operator was scrubbing the site of any incriminating evidence that linked the porn forum to the iCloud hacks. 
When AnonIB came back online, every post in the /stol/ forum had been deleted. Thousands of stolen photographs and hundreds of ads for iCloud hackers had been removed. The internet's celebrity-photo-trading ring gradually realized that its central hub had been compromised.
Nonetheless, some dedicated users returned, asking for help in stealing photographs of women. They were cautioned from posting on the site, warned that journalists were monitoring AnonIB for information about how iCloud accounts were illegally accessed.
The mass leak of celebrity photos (dubbed "The Fappening" by fans amazed at the scale of the collection) forced would-be photo leakers to take to private forums and chatrooms. They communicate using a network of monikers, encrypted emailed addresses, and Google-hosted Blogger pages.
One of the new hubs for stolen photographs of celebrities is a blog known as "Abi Wins." It's public and available for anyone to view. Abi Wins is also hosted on Google's Blogspot servers, which is unfortunate for the company that so keenly defended itself against an accusing letter from top Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer.
In his note to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as chairman Eric Schmidt, Singer accused Google of failing to remove photographs from its Blogger service. Google responded to the letter, defending its moderation procedures, remarking:
We've removed tens of thousands of pictures — within hours of the requests being made — and we have closed hundreds of accounts. The Internet is used for many good things. Stealing people’s private photos is not one of them.
The Abi Wins blog is used to index stolen photographs of celebrities obtained by accessing iCloud accounts. Users then discuss the latest leaked images using Chatango, a chatroom tool created by programmers from MIT, Caltech, and Berkeley. Business Insider contacted Chatango to inform it that stolen images were being shared using its forums. We also reached out to Google about Blogspot and will update this post when we hear back.
But the Abi Wins blog is just the public gateway to the internet's celebrity-photo-trading ring, which lives on despite the increased press attention that occurred following the Labor Day leak.
The celebrity-photo fans who used to gather on AnonIB have a new home on the internet: Volafile. The German site offers real-time file sharing for large groups of people, along with a chat facility to discuss the files posted. The site allows the creation of anonymous accounts, and it offers fast upload speeds. For iCloud hackers with collections of celebrity photos to offload, Volafile is a dream come true. New celebrity photo leaks are now emerging almost exclusively through Volafile.
When a photo collector is about to leak new stolen photographs, that person posts excited messages, creating hype for whatever is about to appear online.
The left of this screenshot shows the chatroom discussion of leaked images, and the list on the right shows files uploaded to the room. A user named "realpsamathe" is excitedly announcing a new celebrity leak, posting "HERE WE GO." in the chat:
"realpsamathe" uploaded a large video file named "THE ONE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR." The file was a video sent by actress Abigail Spencer, known for her roles in "Cowboys & Aliens" and the TV show "Suits," to her boyfriend, actor Josh Pence, who starred in "The Dark Knight" and "The Social Network."
Chatroom users rushed to thank realpsamathe for posting the stolen video.
As users downloaded and viewed the stolen video, which had just been shared online for the first time, they offered to send Bitcoin donations to realpsamathe. He declined, saying, "I don't want donations." He instructed users to "go donate somewhere meaningful" and shared a link to a Unicef donation page to help fight Ebola in Africa.
Users constantly request photographs of the 18-year-old Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney and actress Bella Thorne, who is just 17. Naked photographs of both women are said to have leaked online as part of the iCloud leak, with the photographs taken while both were underage. That hasn't stopped celebrity-photo fans requesting that others post the child pornography online. Every request results in a debate over the ethics of child pornography.
New photographs and videos of female celebrities are still being posted online on a daily basis. "OriginalGuy," the person who first leaked the images, seems to have gone silent, but other established photo traders have realized that the industry is all but dead and are offloading their collection for Bitcoin (and the adoration of their peers) using chatrooms like Volafile.
When Business Insider contacted Volafile founder N. Kuhnhenn, the chatrooms were deleted, along with the content hosted on Volafile and the backup chatrooms reserved for "emergency use." Kuhnhenn told Business Insider that he deletes rooms that breach the site's terms of use as he finds them.
But there's an even more secretive side to the online photo-trading industry. Private dealers still operate, using encrypted email accounts and fake names to avoid detection. After observing the conversations in the main Volafile chatroom, Business Insider learned that a dealer named "Sets Ahoy" had a substantial collection of unreleased images, potentially equal in size to the "OriginalGuy" collection that was posted online on Labor Day. (A "set" is a collection of images, usually about a dozen.)
Using cached versions of deleted messages on the anonymous note site Pastebin, Business Insider was able to contact Sets Ahoy through his encrypted email address. Posing as a potential buyer, Business Insider messaged the photo dealer. We didn't specify what we were looking to buy, just that we had heard he was reliable. Sets Ahoy replied within hours, telling us, "You came to the right guy." He sent over his catalogue of stolen celebrity photographs and videos without any prompting. Here it is in full:
Continuing to pose as an interested buyer, we expressed interest in the photographs of the British model Daisy Lowe. No stolen photographs of Lowe have leaked online. If Sets Ahoy were to possess them, it would help to prove there may be thousands of stolen photographs yet to be released.
Minutes after we expressed our interest in the Daisy Lowe photographs, Sets Ahoy replied with a price.
For about $350 (roughly one bitcoin), Sets Ahoy was selling a collection of stolen naked celebrity photographs. To prove that he was in possession of the photographs, Sets Ahoy sent a Dropbox link to a sample photograph from the Daisy Lowe set. The photograph apparently shows Lowe in a hotel bathroom with an unnamed male. Their genitals are obscured by black bars, and Sets Ahoy's email address is watermarked over the image. Sample photographs are intentionally censored by traders to reduce their value and prevent other dealers from selling the same collections. Minutes after Sets Ahoy uploaded the sample to Dropbox, he deleted it to avoid detection from Dropbox's illegal content filters. Business Insider contacted Dropbox for comment on this story, and we will update this post when we hear back from them.
Sets Ahoy sent Business Insider a Bitcoin payment address, which could be used to send him the one bitcoin he requested in payment for the stolen photographs. The address was newly created, showing no previous transactions. It's likely that it would have been deleted immediately after payment was processed, which makes sure that Sets Ahoy remains anonymous. Business Insider did not purchase any photographs, and the sample image was deleted as soon as it was received. We contacted Daisy Lowe's representatives prior to publication to inform them that their client was a target of iCloud hackers, and that stolen photographs of her were circulating online.
The collection of photographs that OriginalGuy posted online on Labor Day is by no means the full extent of the stolen material that photo traders possess. Dealers like Sets Ahoy have hundreds, possibly thousands, of photographs and videos of female actresses that they are seeking to offload. Some traders realized that OriginalGuy's leak changed the underground industry forever, and so they have taken to leaking the images online for free, as realpsamathe has been doing on Volafile.
It's difficult for Hollywood lawyers like Marty Singer to clamp down on the spread of stolen photographs online. For every blog shut down, and every chatroom deleted, the community of people hungry for more content moves on to another site. It's difficult to see where the community will move next, although the trend is to adopt more private networks.
There has been talk of a "deepweb" marketplace for stolen celebrity photographs, accessible only through the Tor web browser. Tor is constructed so that no search engine would be able to index that auction site, and nobody would be able to discover it without knowing the unique series of letters and numbers that form the URL. Until the dealers flock to the deepweb, however, the signs of the internet's underground photo-trading ring remain: Cached pages, notes, emails, and forums linger online for lawyers, journalists, curious internet users, and potential buyers to discover.
SEE ALSO: The Full Story Of The iCloud Hacker Who Leaked Those Naked Celebrity Photos