This entry was updated 5/12/2006
Something is bugging me.
Normally, I don't get into the business of celebrities from Hollywood. My usual beef with them is that some of them feel they have to tell me how to vote or go above and beyond the vulgar to diss people that I either like or respect. I have no problems with differences of opinion as long as they are expressed respectfully and civilly. But I digress ...
Back in late September 2005, an alleged incident took place between Vin Diesel and an architectural student named Marianny Pimentel Orde at Club Praia in the Dominican Republic. If you Google "Vin Diesel Praia," you'll find several sites that basically say the same thing: "Vin Diesel had Marianny Pimentel Orde kicked out of the Club Praia when she refused to go back to his hotel room with him," all quoting the same source: DominicanToday.com. As of this writing, none of these sites seem to know or want to acknowledge that there are two sides to this story, and they're being irresponsible in not telling it.
In the spirit of fairness and full disclosure, I admit that I'm a Vin Diesel fan. I'm not one of those lovesick, obsessive fans who stalks the poor guy just for a picture. I am, however, an admirer of his acting and the fact that he does have a reputation for being a sensitive, friendly person and a gentleman who tries to do the right thing. There are printed articles in which he rescued people from a car that caught on fire, he stood up for a wheelchair-bound woman who was being spoken to threateningly by a man in line at a grocery store, and he stood up for Kirstie Alley when a few young men were heckling her about her weight problem and made them apologize to her (that one really hit home with me).
When I first read those articles about the Club Praia incident, admittedly, I was very disappointed in Diesel, almost to the point that I felt like he previously lied. I've seen his interviews on The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Entertainment Tonight, The Early Show, and some foreign talk shows. He gave me and other people the impression that he was a sensitive guy and a gentleman. The Club Praia incident reflected Diesel as a complete opposite of that impression.
Then I started thinking about how the media is quick to publish bad news about people and events. Wanting to know more, I started searching the Internet for anything to show that Diesel gave a rebuttal. Galatta.com claims that "Diesel's publicist has declined to comment on Orde's allegation." Well, that can be taken two ways. Many experts in Hollywood believe that untrue press should not be commented on. Fair enough. However, many of those who have "misbehaved" don't want to talk about their shenanigans either, so their responses are also, "No comment." Speaking for myself, I think an official denial goes a long way toward thwarting further bad press.
Now, let's say for the sake of the argument that the allegations are true. The best thing Orde and her friend should have done was take it as a learning experience and walk away. The fact that she ran to the press to tell her story of being snubbed by a celebrity doesn't say much about her. The more I thought about it, the more suspicious I became of her claim. If she was truly "not that kind of girl," then she would have also avoided the cheap and tawdry publicity brought about by her tale. I mean, think about it ... why would you want have anything to do to a business establishment that allegedly caters to the whims of people who are so supposedly self-important? Why would you want to have any association, whether in person or in a news story, with someone who allegedly disrespected you? In my opinion, she contradicted herself. So he supposedly tried to bust a move on her and she said no, then allegedly had her thrown out! Big fat hairy deal! She's in her early 20's and is supposed to be an adult! She should have acted like one by realizing, "Okay, he's a jerk. I deserve better, so I'll forget about him," and go elsewhere, not run off and tattle, bent on revenge for being rejected.
From everything I've read, Orde seemed more upset with Vin's alleged treatment of her and having her kicked out rather than the fact that she was kicked out of Club Praia itself. Orde is supposed to be a college student, an educated person. To me, it seemed like her feelings got hurt, so rather than do the adult thing by chalking up the situation to a learning experience, she went to the press and made a big issue of being snubbed by a celebrity that she liked. If Vin had laid a finger on her, it would have been a completely different story, but then she should have called the cops before calling the press.
As it turns out, there are at least two sources on the Internet in which a rebuttal was given. Valentino Morales, Diesel's longtime friend, spoke to Diariolibre.com and Elcaribe.com.do a day after the story broke in the Dominican Republic and denied Orde's claims. Now, I don't know Spanish, but the interpretation I got from the articles using Google's "Language Tools" was that Morales said that Orde's ex-fiance showed up and an argument ensued, (which may explain why Orde and her group were "invited to leave," the club, although this is strictly my opinion). Morales also claimed that he nor Diesel ever intended to leave with Orde or her female friend, that the ladies hung around the lobby for hours and pursued them. When Orde decided to go to the press, she had the help of LuisÃn Jiménez (a local celebrity) as a "witness." Morales believes that Jiménez did this to get publicity at the expense of Diesel. Morales (at the time of the interview) had not told his friend about the negative press his friend was getting. Morales was very concerned for his friend Diesel because Diesel was wanting to make a movie and invest in property and the economy, and the negative publicity might make Diesel not want to return to the Dominican Republic.
I'm sure if you look at any of the gossip rags in print and on the Internet, you've seen stories about how photographers and the media literally hound celebrities for their picture or for a statement. Vin Diesel is so popular that he has to use bodyguards just to go out to a club, a premiere, or other places in which there will be a crowd. He's mentioned in interviews how he's become more reserved in the last few years because of how he's now pursued by so many people (many with questionable motives, I strongly suspect). Is our fascination with celebrities gotten to the point that people like Diesel are not able to be in public without being stalked and hounded by the media and the fans? What kind of life is that? It makes me wonder what the motives of Orde and her friend were that night when they met Diesel and Morales at Club Praia. Why was her ex-fiance not mentioned in her story?
Rather than take my word for it, go to Google's Language Tools page, then open another browser window and visit the two above-listed links, copy and paste the text, then go the the Language Tools windows, paste the text in the "Translate Text" box, then select "Spanish to English." Then click on "Translate." It maybe a little hard to follow at first, but you'll get the gist of what was said. If you'd rather, you can also download this Wordpad file in which I copied and pasted the literal Google translation of both those articles. I also included the literal Google translations of the articles describing the original allegations.
Whatever the case may be, there is another side to this story ... and more people need to be aware of it. I want to believe that the alleged incident isn't true. I wasn't there, so I honestly don't know what really happened. All I know is that Diesel better appreciate Morales' friendship because Morales shouldn't have had to say anything. As someone who wants to give Diesel the benefit of the doubt, I suggest that he may want to rethink the "no comment" stance on something like this. When allegations like this happen in the same week that the premiere of his new movie Find Me Guilty is postponed for five months for "problems," it doesn't look good for the actor, even if it was purely coincidental.
Speaking for myself, if someone accused me of what Orde accused Diesel of doing and it wasn't true, I'd be seeing a lawyer about slander and libel. I'm not a litigious person, but don't muck with my reputation with stuff that's not true.
11 comments:
Babe, I have just read what you have written about this whole DR stunt. I am amazed at some of the crap that falls out of people's mouths sometimes. If a person is going to do something like this, the best you can do is have the shit to back it up. I have seen most interviews that Vin has done on TV and have almost all the magazine interviews and he has never come across as this arrogant super-celeb who thinks we should all bow down before his supior being. He seems like a genuine, warm, friendly person. If you saw the Paci extras you know he is not a shit who acts this way. I thank Michelle for doing this from the bottom of my Vin-loving butt, cos this guy deserves our support. He is one cool dude who very often comes across as a big goofy kid. This is all, of course, my own opinion and no matter what the Vinster does - he will always have one loyal supporter in me. I thank him for the years of pleasure he has given me so far and hope I have many more years of pleasure to come from him.
I KNEW IT! I just knew that it was made up! Thanks Michelle! Vin owes you!
No, he doesn't. I'm just trying to be fair. I don't like seeing anyone getting trashed for something that may not be true. We weren't there, so we don't know for sure what happened.
Ms. Mundling & All:
Just being "familiar" with Spanish can cause one to miss out on a WHOLE lot of crucial information. Orde was NEVER Val's nor Justin Jiminez's girlfriend. The Spanish language articles reported that she was among 4 women with Vin/Val that night. It was ANOTHER woman from the group who was Jiminez's ex-girlfriend. Jiminez was also one who was serving as Vin's/Val's unoffical host, taking them around, etc. So Jiminez was likely to take this a serious betrayal to find that his ex-flame among a group of women who were in line to "get busy" with Vin. He surely wasn't going to be invited to the after-club/hotel room party if there was to be one. Val even claimed that Jiminez got "physical" with the ex, which caused a stir. Jiminez was quoted in articles that Orde was a "friend" of his daughter...ughh the age thing here. Other reports stated that she was a "family friend." This Jiminez ex-girlfriend version would SURELY explain why Jiminez continues to go out of his way to trash Vin in public. I believe he also had the gun planted in vin's luggage when he left the Dom. Rep. Sorry is this pisses anyone off, but the disposition of a jealous latino male is like none other. Also you're looking at this situation in terms of Westernized male/female relationships. A woman's reputation is her pride and glory in Latin-American countries. It's intrinsically tied to her family's reputation and the public belief about how they have raised her. So understandably, she was prepared to die defending her dignity/honor. I would be too. She was after all, portrayed as a woman who hung around at tourist hotels looking for foreign men. This basically translates into "prostitute." Who know what exactly happended? SOMETHING however, did occur. One must not forget that everyone one, including a celebrity will be rejected, and men tend to have more of an extreme reaction than women. Before he became famous, Vin didn't travel internationally. He needs to learn that when on foreign soil, one must remain relatively tongue tied. A visitor/tourist can say nothing about or do ANYTHING to a native without pissing off a whole lot of people, whether that person is the president or the most dangerously violent criminal in their highest security prison. Reports that Vin approached this woman on the street after his security team tried to arrange a hook-up, to which she initially said no. Vin also doesn't know while most foreign countries love American actors, they are more enthralled by Spanish Language singers. I bet Marc Anthony or Enrique Inglesias may have succeeded where Vin failed in this siutation. I've never believed there are two sides to a story. Rather, there are 3; person 1, person 2, and the elusive TRUTH!
Wow! Thanks for the input. It does explain some things. You are also right about there being more than two sides to the story: his side, her side, and the truth.
My beef was that here in the U.S., only ONE side was being told, and it was told in the most negative way. What I wrote was my humble attempt at getting another side of the story out there for those of us who don't know Spanish.
In case anyone thinks that I'm doing this only for Mr. Diesel, I have also written entries about my opinions concerning Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Terri Schiavo, and other people in the news. If I see something going on that I feel is unfair, I'm going to write my opinion about it. This was one of those situations.
Thanks again for your comments.
Michelle:
You’re welcome. No problem. But like you said, it’s a double-edge sword since Vin did not come out with any comments on the issue. Val did. But in my opinion, it made everything look much worse for Vin. It’s Vin’s choice, but his insistence and determination to keep “everything so private,” a lot of times backfires. This situation is one example. If I were him (and I’m not), I’d give the public a little bit more and use his public relations person. I mean what is he paying this person for? All she does/says is “no comment” or “decline comment.” Who wouldn’t like to be paid big bucks for having to repeat this mantra on behalf of a wealthy client? Where do I sign up?
I don’t think you were doing this only for Vin, and realize that he’s the subject at hand. I’m trying to think currently, and can’t think of any other celeb who is dead set against saying anything about something so inflammatory. Even Janet Jackson came out to defend the “hidden daughter” stories.
I like Vin too, but I sense that he is a serious sex maniac. Does that make him any different from a great many men? No. But his determination in trying to keep it under wraps isn’t working. The women he “gets busy” with all come out and talk about it, which surely makes him rife with embarrassment. Sounds like he needs to starty choosing a "different" kind of woman. The woman in the dom. rep. was surely unlike anyone woman he has dated or attempted at least.
Your right about Janet Jackson. Once she made her official denial, that was it. There was no more bullshit about her secret daughter.
I'm not sure about Vin being a sex fiend. But if its true, give him my number!
I think publicity today whether television news or newspapers seem to be slanted, the dirtier they can make it the better. I am very careful to believe what I read, and too many people today are ready to jump and accuse rather than to step back and examine all the facts...fact one, look at his personality, fact two, he is becoming a popular movie star and women are going to flock, stock, and baulk, fact three, he isn't stupid, something the media would rather people didn't know...Mr. Diesel is reserved not stupid, has only ever shown the most proper behavior, from most accounts. So people quit being so gullible I wish our News agencies used more detective reasoning and give a worthwhile, honest, and from the gut piece rather than trivial trash that even the tabloids won't print due to possible liable charges.
Just a friend...Mae
to anonymous:
What defines stupid? Do you think that only "stupid" people get themselves in a bind and/or more poor decisions? Whatever the situation, no person..Vin Diesel or anyone else can be so careful with every move that they make. If so, that means they'd be mistake free in their life. We know that isn't the case for anyone. Just because some one becomes famous doesn't prompt them to acquire sense they never had before. Look at the long, long list of famous people who've gotten themselves in legal, and moral jams. They are just like us, with no special powers or protections against making mistakes. So I tend to resent statemetns which imply that famous people are more sensible or better than the rest of us. Vin Diesel is a man like any other man who desires women. He will NOT be attractive to every woman, even if he is rich and famous. I guranatee you, he like every man on this planet has been rejected by women at some time in their lives. I also resent the assumption that people are guillable if they choose to believe some or all of club story. The story could true just as likely as it could be false. People shouldn't be slammed because they decide that they think it's true. It's double-edge sword. Because when visual/camera proof is offered on people being caught in public, we hear this mess about violating rights. But when it's written it ALSO must be a lie, right? Tell me, where do you got to get your information. If just don't believe that you believe NOTHING that is written in print out celebrities. To remind you, the tabloids that you're criticizing often come out first with info. on celebs which Time, newsweek, Meople Mag, etc. end up printing. So they are NOT always false. Celebs lie just like the person standing in line next to you at the market. To sum it up, I like Vin Diesel as an actor. But I think he presents as a bit over-sexed, and over-sexed men do tend to have a higher rate of rejection due to their pursuit habits. So I guess you don't believe that the dom. rep. airport found a gun in his luggage either? THEY ARE HUMAN LIKE THE REST OF US!!!!
Yes, there was a gun found in his luggage when Diesel was leaving D.R. at the end of September. It was determined that it belonged to one of the military officers who was assigned to be one of his bodyguards; it was believed that its placement was an accident.
I really thought that gun in his luggage was a set up. He had really pissed some people off on that trip, one just happended to famous with "connections." It just makes no sense how the gun got into Vin's luggage by "accident." They don't x-ray every piece of luggage, but Vin's was chosen. I mean if it did belong to his bodyguard, it would have served no rational purpose being tucked in Vin's luggage if the need arose for the bodyguard to protect him. If it hadn't been discovered in the dom. rep., it surely would have been found when he arrived in Flordia, a for-sure arrest. He was really, really lucky that that he wasn't arrested in the dom. rep. for that "accident."
Post a Comment