Edward Norton may be responsible for taking candy away from babies, babies being the Hollywood stars, candy, being the insanely lavish swag bags that each star gets at awards shows. Here’s the scoop from monstersandcritics.com :
There’ll be no super cool gift bags, otherwise known as “swag” at the Oscars or Golden Globes, courtesy of altruistic Edward Norton. The awards have nixed giving the bags, sometimes worth $100K or more, because the Illusionist star allegedly complained so much that the IRS poked their nose in.
The talented actor, Norton, told New York magazine: “Picking through $35,000 gift baskets is disgusting and shameful. My suggestion was to have the Academy commit to [charitable] contributions in the name of the winners.”
The decision comes after The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agreed to send tax forms to all those who received the free gifts, worth around $100,000, at the 2006 ceremony. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson says, “Whether you’re popping the popcorn, sitting in the audience or starring on the big screen, you need to pay your taxes. There’s no red carpet loophole for the stars.”
Ok I know that this is going to be crappy for the stars and the IRS are jerks for charging people on gifts but….celebrities do kind of get it better all of the time anyway so why should they get special preferences with the IRS on gifts valued over a certain dollar amount? We don’t, so why should they?
True there is a cottage industry that is going to suffer hugely from this. I can’t even imagine all of the publicist and consultants that will loose into the hundreds of thousands of dollars with this ditched deal but the swag bag had to run it’s course at some point, each year they was getting more and more outrageous and ridiculous. It would have probably kept going until Ferraris and houses in the Hamptons were being given out.
Although Norton is probably going to get a few sour looks this year I’m sure it will be from the B rate stars who also get annoyed when they can’t smoke inside, and who don’t tip the masseuse because they should feel “privileged” to work on them. Edward Norton should not be punished or alienated for speaking his mind, he didn’t know that it would bring the IRS into it and even if he did, maybe he’s just one of the few rich and famous people who don’t think that they should get more stuff just for being….rich and famous.
If the Golden Globes and Oscars actually do what Norton suggested and make charitable donations on the behalf of the presenters and winners I think most would be very happy about that. And as a normal person at home watching it I’d have a bit more respect for not only the stars but also for the awards shows themselves.
