The infamous hat story

[Laurel Hill]

What gets me (has always gotten me) is *why* do so many people believe the stories in the tabloids? I feel sorry for celebrities sometimes, all the stuff they put up with!

And why, when the correct information to a question is given time and time again, people keep asking and/or refuse to believe it?

Because believing the worst of someone is always more interesting and more fun even when it's not true (this happens to ordinary non famous people and gossip too, I have seen it many times, been the victim of it)

 

[CMM]

What I don't get is, why make up something about his HAT.

There are so many other things that the could make up a story about that would be a little less ludicrous and a little more believable.



Plus, if it's so untrue, why didn't Bono sue them? It's defamation of character in the least, that he paid over 1000 pounds to have it flown to him at a charity concert....

 

[~BrightestStar~]

Now, if they had said it was his sunglasses......I may be tempted to believe.







It's a shame this story never seems to die.




Also, he probably didn't bother suing because that would only call more attention to the story, etc etc. By ignoring it, he's sort of sending a message that it's not worth his time. Or something like that.

 

[pattip2000]

Now, if they had said it was his sunglasses......I may be tempted to believe.

yes, sunglasses but that different

 

[kimby]

Because believing the worst of someone is always more interesting and more fun even when it's not true (this happens to ordinary non famous people and gossip too, I have seen it many times, been the victim of it)

Yeah, me too...once overheard a couple of guys discussing something that supposedly happened between me and one of said guys (which in fact, never happened ). Between that and having been upset by a (false) celeb news story in the National Enquirer as a child I learned 2 things: to stop wasting my allowance on that rag, and to give celebrities the benefit of the doubt when it comes to gossip and the rumor mill. I only believe it if a) there is *real* evidence and/or b) the celeb in question confirms it.

 

[fly so high!]

What hat story?

Please tell me, i know nothing about "THE HAT"
























JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LostAtMoon]

I got really mad when I found out that the story comes published in a book called "Celebrity Anecdotes" .

 

[Liesje]

The picture of "Bono, Ali, and John" punlished in that tabloid is actually Christopher Meloni! How un-Bono could they get?!?

 

[xtal]

Tabloids write the stupidest stuff...

Everything you know is wrong-

I would still be a Bono fan if this story was true though.

 

[Laurel Hill]

The picture of "Bono, Ali, and John" punlished in that tabloid is actually Christopher Meloni! How un-Bono could they get?!?

Found some pics, they're small but you get the idea!

 

[Merc]

there was also an argument that Lola claimed Bono had 'given' her a pair of his pants... and that Bono was hopping around backstage in his underwear...

it wasn't just Bono sueing her btw.. it wass the whole band, wich would explain why Larry was also in court..

Yeah, black Stetson, pants, ear rings etc - it was several items...

I know it wasn't just Bono, but I couldn't find quotes/statements form any other band members...

 

[blueeyedgirl]

What gets me (has always gotten me) is *why* do so many people believe the stories in the tabloids? I feel sorry for celebrities sometimes, all the stuff they put up with!

And why, when the correct information to a question is given time and time again, people keep asking and/or refuse to believe it?

Because people are stupid, that's why!

 

[last unicorn]

The tabloid issue is something that gets me every time because I hate it so much. Today's media is only making headlines and ratings with negative and sensational stories, this is what people want, they are buying it, watching it, reading it. There's a lot of stupidness around. But there are some celebrities who the media has been harder on than on others, they get a very rough deal. With people like Bono it's usually not that way, because apparently there isn't much to scandalize. Some celebrities are really media victims, and I feel sorry for them. But I can understand why so many decide not to persue legal actions against certain media, because it only brings more and more attention to the stories. I guess it's something famous people simply have to live with.

 

[Galeongirl]

Found some pics, they're small but you get the idea!

yes those I had in mind!
I mean... anbody knows Bono is a leprechaun, how can he suddenly be so tall then

 

[hcbiggs2002]

Found some pics, they're small but you get the idea!

So these a the pictures that went with the crap untrue article about the hat?!? I can just image the patter in the newsroom between the 'photographer and 'reporter' when he was creating the story....

'reporter':- So you found any decent photos of Bono in a fedora hat yet?

'photographer':- No but I found these one's of Meloni and his wife and daughter. Only trouble is that Bono's wife has long dark brown hair and their youngest child is a boy!?!

'reporter':- Oh they'll do, no one will know the difference except for a few die-hard U2 fans!!

'photographer':- What about any Meloni fans, wouldn't they see it's him and not Bono?!?

'reporter':- There are probably even less Meloni fans who actually read The Sun' than there are U2 fans!!!

 

[Laurel Hill]

No those are not the ones that went with the hat story, they are an example of what crap that tabloid puts out. These are from 2001, allegedly 'Bono, Ali and John' (can't access the whole story anymore, it's in The Sun archives) You can see no way is this them. They had a fake Bono story then and again with the hat story. They are full of crap.

But the hat they showed in the hat story was much like the one in that pic. They want to keep giving Bono that hat though he hasn't worn one like that since 1998!

Both the baby story and the hat story were fake.

 

[xtal]

It's the hefty price the celebrities pay.

Get this: they get preferential treatment ANY place they go, expensive bags of gifts for every award show/benefit/gala they attend, many designers GIVE them expensive dresses/suits to wear, they get paid $10+million a year, all of these are plusses and benefits that they get in return for a part of their privacy.

If they don't want that 'invasion' of privacy and the awful treatment of tabloid exploitations and lies or what not, that's simple, get out of the business, give up the status, and give up the fucking million dollar paychecks.

Sometimes I really don't feel sorry for the celebrities that whine about paparazzi sitting outside their houses and/or printing silly stories. Come on, they should have expected that. It comes with the territory. It's common sense, with success and money, comes attention.

Punching the lights out of a photographer is just really passing the fine line of spoiled brattiness that most of these celebrities abuse.

But on the other hand, tabloids/newspapers do cross the line at times, when it comes to family members that are not in the business, the celebrity has a right to protect those of non-Hollywood status.

It's that fine line again.

 

[hcbiggs2002]

Yes it's true that part of being a celebrity is giving up part of your private life and that they get preferential treatment and that's what Bono's always talking about, when he says about the ridiculousness of being a rock star, getting paid so much money plus other benefits, for just writing and performing a few good songs or whatever!

But that's not the issue here! If you've bothered to read through all the posts of the last few pages you'll see it's US who are tired of this hat story surfishing over and over especially coz it's NOT TRUE!! Bono probably couldn't care less!!

 

[kafrun]

It's the hefty price the celebrities pay.

Get this: they get preferential treatment ANY place they go, expensive bags of gifts for every award show/benefit/gala they attend, many designers GIVE them expensive dresses/suits to wear, they get paid $10+million a year, all of these are plusses and benefits that they get in return for a part of their privacy.

If they don't want that 'invasion' of privacy and the awful treatment of tabloid exploitations and lies or what not, that's simple, get out of the business, give up the status, and give up the fucking million dollar paychecks.

Sometimes I really don't feel sorry for the celebrities that whine about paparazzi sitting outside their houses and/or printing silly stories. Come on, they should have expected that. It comes with the territory. It's common sense, with success and money, comes attention.

Punching the lights out of a photographer is just really passing the fine line of spoiled brattiness that most of these celebrities abuse.

But on the other hand, tabloids/newspapers do cross the line at times, when it comes to family members that are not in the business, the celebrity has a right to protect those of non-Hollywood status.

It's that fine line again.

I think there's also a fine line between giving up some of your privacy and being stalked. A few pictures is one thing, but being hounded by money-hungry paparazzi is another. But then that's what the celebrity-obsessed culture has created.

I agree that if you don't like it you should get out. I can't stand when I hear about celebs with a bad attitude and I see it living where I live. That's still not a good enough reason to scrounge and dig and potentially tear a person's life apart for a headline. Especially when those headlines last only as long as the public's interest.

All that being said, this is just a silly urban legend which I doubt has made much of a dent in Bono's rep. If a few eejits want to believe what they read, let them

 

[blueeyedgirl]

If we really wanted to get into an indepth discussion of what constitutes a reasonable interest in a celebrity's life and what could be construed a crossing of the line into a form of 'stalkerism' for want of a better word, then a majority fo the photos in PLEBA shouldn't be put up since they come from paparazzi sources.

But I'm sure that's a discussion for another time and place.

 

[FEELINNUMB]

It's the hefty price the celebrities pay.

Get this: they get preferential treatment ANY place they go, expensive bags of gifts for every award show/benefit/gala they attend, many designers GIVE them expensive dresses/suits to wear, they get paid $10+million a year, all of these are plusses and benefits that they get in return for a part of their privacy.

If they don't want that 'invasion' of privacy and the awful treatment of tabloid exploitations and lies or what not, that's simple, get out of the business, give up the status, and give up the fucking million dollar paychecks.

Sometimes I really don't feel sorry for the celebrities that whine about paparazzi sitting outside their houses and/or printing silly stories. Come on, they should have expected that. It comes with the territory. It's common sense, with success and money, comes attention.

Punching the lights out of a photographer is just really passing the fine line of spoiled brattiness that most of these celebrities abuse.

But on the other hand, tabloids/newspapers do cross the line at times, when it comes to family members that are not in the business, the celebrity has a right to protect those of non-Hollywood status.

It's that fine line again.

Sorry, that's a complete load of shit. There is no "fine line" concerning any form of abuse. It is outrageous to suggest that some people have uncivilized treatment coming to them because of the type of success they enjoy. It is simple-minded sour grapes to think any of this abuse is justified as a trade off for certain types of success.

And blueeyedgirl is right -- there have been many times on this board when someone points out a U2 story in some lowlife tabloid, and people not only run out and buy it, there are dozens of posts where people say, it didn't arrive yet, my mother must be reading it, I have to find our copy...they SUBSCRIBE TO IT. And if this idiocy didn't sell copies, they wouldn't print it. So it's all well and good to pick up your skirts and scream in sanctimonious outrage, but so many PLEBAns feed the beast they claim to despise.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Found some pics, they're small but you get the idea!

Yep the guy from Law and Order SVU.

How they even thought that it was Bono and his wife is beyond me.

 

[GracelandHarley]

Sorry, that's a complete load of shit. There is no "fine line" concerning any form of abuse. It is outrageous to suggest that some people have uncivilized treatment coming to them because of the type of success they enjoy. It is simple-minded sour grapes to think any of this abuse is justified as a trade off for certain types of success.

And blueeyedgirl is right -- there have been many times on this board when someone points out a U2 story in some lowlife tabloid, and people not only run out and buy it, there are dozens of posts where people say, it didn't arrive yet, my mother must be reading it, I have to find our copy...they SUBSCRIBE TO IT. And if this idiocy didn't sell copies, they wouldn't print it. So it's all well and good to pick up your skirts and scream in sanctimonious outrage, but so many PLEBAns feed the beast they claim to despise.

A bit of the pot calling the kettle black, eh...

Actually, they knew her years before that, that's her in the WOWOY vid, don't forget...

I thought of a story last night that you all may or may not get a kick out of -- a friend of a friend, who vaguely knew there was a band named U2 and THAT WAS IT, worked at Pearl Paint, it's a big discount art store on Canal St. in NY. One day in Feb. '97, this fellow employee comes up to her stricken and says, it's...THE EDGE! She replies, Of what? See? No clue. But she sees everyone in the store getting all wound up, and then this guy and woman appear. He is very down to earth, polite, unassuming, gee, she thinks, this is what everyone is getting hysterical about, no bigshot airs about this guy. But then, she said, that woman! Her words here, put away the tar and feathers: "she was a real snotty,smug, stuck-up bitch." Said her head kept moving back and forth like she was watching a tennis game with that smarmy, "look who I'M with" look on it. I don't think any of us have gotten past junior high without seeing that look from someone! But the kicker is that, in NYC, in FEB., in the middle of the day, she was wearing A BLACK BUSTIER!! The salesclerk in the ROCK STAR CHICK section of Skanks-R-Us must have told her it was de rigeur!

 

[pattip2000]

Yep the guy from Law and Order SVU.

How they even thought that it was Bono and his wife is beyond me.

do you really blame them? he is wearing sunglasses............

 

[Liesje]

And blueeyedgirl is right -- there have been many times on this board when someone points out a U2 story in some lowlife tabloid, and people not only run out and buy it, there are dozens of posts where people say, it didn't arrive yet, my mother must be reading it, I have to find our copy...they SUBSCRIBE TO IT. And if this idiocy didn't sell copies, they wouldn't print it. So it's all well and good to pick up your skirts and scream in sanctimonious outrage, but so many PLEBAns feed the beast they claim to despise.

I think we could all be a bit more careful about what we post. In the past, I've seen people post photos that Ali & Bono don't want on the Internet. When I point this out, people respond as if I'm being a smart ass or trying to pick a fight, and then encourage the original poster because "it's such a cute family photo" and "the original poster didn't know any better". There's a reason why these photos no longer appear in any galleries of respectable fan sites.

 

[Greenlight]

The story has appeared again in today's Independent. I don't think I can post the link as I've only just joined up (although I've been lurking for a while!) but it's on line in an article about Rocks top 50 big spenders. Bono is number 8.
The Independent is supposed to be a quality newspaper and considering Bono was their guest editor last month and has helped boost their sales since you think they'd get their facts right.

 

[hcbiggs2002]

^and so the wheel goes round and round!!!