It’s always funny when stars spit the dummy

We all love a good celebrity meltdown, don’t we?

Hissy fits, temper tantrums and massive dummies being spat into the void can suddenly make a grey day a great day, especially if the source of the rant is someone who doesn’t usually go off on one. Welcome the First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama!

Michelle is no po-faced fashionista, fawning film star or pop diva, she’s one of the most powerful women in the world and this week she lived up to that tag by giving a gay rights heckler both barrels at a fundraiser in Washington DC.

After continual interruption from lesbian activist Ellen Sturtz, Mrs Obama, with a face like thunder and in a chilling voice, raged: “ Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving! You all decide. You have one choice!”

Brilliant! [link here]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlBgS2g07Qg

Of course, the audience some of whom had payed up to $10,000 to attend immediately snapped to attention, decided that Michelle was not to be messed with and turfed the whingeing demonstrator out on her ear. The place erupted in spontaneous applause and support for Michelle, but unfortunately the mask had already slipped and that moment of anger may come back to haunt her. A shame really as she was right to give the heckler stick. In fact she should have skelped her with one!

She was well within her rights to get “in her face”, as she was accused of doing, and she was also bang on in letting those ignoramuses who had paid a small fortune to attend know that if they wanted her there then the least they could do was listen to her. This was a wee tantrum some might even say a hissy fit by someone who should know better but given Michelle’s reaction to the heckling I doubt she’ll have any problems on the podium in the near future.

It also begs the question: Who wears the trousers in the Obama household?

However one right rant doesn’t excuse a wrong one and the wrong rant in this case came from world-renowned pianist Krystian Zimerman, who stormed off stage in Germany because someone was filming him on their phone. He did return to finish but not before he stupidly blamed YouTube for the destruction of music and stormed back out without giving his flabbergasted fans an encore and not appearing at a post concert reception given in his honour.

What a plinker! If there was a tube in the room it must surely have been the stuck up and ill-informed Krystian. It’s because of sites like YouTube and the ability to download his playing that Krystian’s music has become internationally accessible, easy to find, listen to and enjoy, if that’s what takes your fancy.

Thousands of previously unheard artists are now reaping the benefits of what the digital medium offers and the doors and ears it can instantly open for them around the world. They are now getting heard, talked about and bought. It’s probably the main reason people have heard of Krystian in the first place.

Not only is it a fantastic communication vehicle that can allow anyone to listen to him any time, but one that will preserve this moody maestro’s playing long after he’s gone. I wonder how those fans who checked him out online and then forked out to see him play felt after that snooty outburst? Embarrassed? Foolish? Angry enough to throw a wee wobbly?

So let’s be a bit more thankful for YouTube, social media and the digital age. After all, they not only help the careers of those who have talent, they’re also a godsend when it comes to exposing “you tubes” like Krystian, bringing their egos back down to earth and giving us all a good laugh at their temper tantrums.