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Updates FBI Joins Fox In Hunt For Stolen 'Wolverine' Pirated On Web
SUNDAY UPDATE: News Corp issued the following statement from Los Angeles today confirming my reporting from Saturday -- "Roger Friedman’s views in no way reflect the views of News Corporation. We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."
SATURDAY PM EXCLUSIVE: News Corp like all major Hollywood studios takes the crime of piracy very seriously. Nor will the Fox parent company tolerate it if its employees don't. Especially after a stolen, early and unfinished work print of 20th Century Fox's big summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine was put onto the Internet illegally this week in a major scandal that the FBI is now investigating. So there was universal shock on Friday when long-time "Fox 411" freelance columnist Roger Friedman wrote what I'm told his bosses felt was a blatant promotion of piracy on his Fox News web outlet. Besides writing a review from watching the purloined print of Wolverine, Friedman posted, “I did find the whole top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away. It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer. I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room? Later tonight I may finally catch up with Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man. It’s so much easier than going out in the rain!” I'm told that Fox News' actions were swift and severe. First, Roger Ailes, who oversees Fox News, deleted the offending post after he was contacted by 20th Century Fox about it. And then Ailes fired Friedman as a freelance Fox News entertainment writer. I hear the move was done with the full support of News Corp. "He promoted piracy. He basically suggested that viewing a stolen film is OK, which is absolutely intolerable. So we fired him," a source told me Saturday. "Fox News acted promptly on all fronts."
Friedman has written his gossip column, "Fox 411", for FoxNews.com for more than a decade and peppers it with celebrity items, industry news, and off-the-cuff movie reviews. He has long been a controversial writer who quite frequently angers the publicity machine surrounding actors, directors, producers, studios, celebrities, movies and TV. Occasionally he has scoops, especially about the music biz. Still, how could he not have known that his writings Friday would hit a nerve with his employers. After Friedman's column on FoxNews.com appeared, both News Corp and Fox condemned it as "promoting a pirated version of Wolverine".
News Corp issued this statement: “Roger Friedman’s views in no way reflect the views of News Corporation. We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. Once we learned of Roger Friedman’s post we asked Fox News to remove it, which they did immediately.”
And Fox said, "We’ve just been made aware that Roger Friedman, a freelance columnist who writes Fox 411 on Foxnews.com – an entirely separate company from 20th Century Fox -- watched on the internet and reviewed a stolen and unfinished version of X-Men Orgins: Wolverine. This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically -- whether the review is good or bad."
UPDATE: I did reach Friedman for comment. He emailed back only that he was at the Paul McCartney concert.
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I was wondering what the hell he was thinking when he posted that! He needed to go anyway. This would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Good -friedman is a leeching clown; a sleezeball “journalist” who pretends he’s everyones best friend
It was about time…
Thanx 4 the exclusive.
Interesting what a fireable offense is at Fox. As long as Glen Beck stays away from illegal downloads, fomenting a new revolution is okay.
So Faux News acts promptly on all fronts, eh? Then why wasn’t Bill O’Reilly fired for allegedly sexually harrassing his female producer Andrea Mackris? Got an answer for that one, Mr. Ailes? Come on, be pithy and opine.
*FACEPALM*
“Somebody pointed out that the Emperor had no clothes,” said Fox News. “So we beheaded him.”
The chickens are finally coming home to roost. This isn’t a crime, it’s market correction. A lot of people don’t think the cost of the theater is worth it. They’d rather watch the movie streaming on-line. I’m sure they’d pay for the service, but it’s never offered. So, they’ll find a way to watch it anyway. What Friedman did wasn’t advocating a crime, he was just telling it like it is. But rather than find a way to monetize reality, Fox pretends most people aren’t already aware movies are easy to find on-line. As long as Fox would rather grandstand then try to monitize what’s already happening, they’ll lose money to people stealing their movies.
Oh well. Guess they had to fire somebody to make themselves feel better and Roger made it easy for them by serving himself up. But like I said in my other post on the original Wolverine thread…Fox just needs to do its internal investigation and fire whoever, if anyone, is responsible for the leak. Not send them to fucking jail. Just fucking fire them. Trust me, after this, they’ll never work in this town again, as they say. After that, tighten up chain of possession of film elements and move on.
I’m sure that WOLVERINE, in its final version will still do well just like TAKEN and ZOMBIE’S HALLOWEEN did after they were on the web for a while. So Fox should just chill out, downplay the leak and knock it off with that FBI shit. FBI has better things to do than act as a studio’s personal copyright police. I’d hate to think we’d have another 9/11 because FBI resources were taken away from protecting its citizens to protecting people from rough cuts of WOLVERINE. Fox can scream “theft” all they want but this leak is their fault. They need to own it. They need to deal with it. Most of all,, they need to shut the fuck up because I’m tired of of this whining about downloading. People still buy films. They still go to theaters. The only people pushing them away from that is the studios themselves with their conglomerate auteurism and antedeluvian business practices. OK. No more caffeine for me.
Wow Harry Knowles and the guys over at Ain’t it cool news got something dome at 20th Century Fox!?! Maybe they can convince Fox not to make anymore crappy Marvel movies, and while they’re at it crappy Sci-fi flicks, or at least stay the hell away from the budgeting, casting, shooting, and editing of those films.
He tried to spin it in Fox’s favor by giving the illegal material a glowing review to combat the bad buzz online, while forgetting that it was ILLEGAL MATERIAL. Hilariously stupid move, Friedman.
This is a true shame. Roger is one of the good guys out there in the gossip community. People may get annoyed with him at times but he tells the truth, gets amazing stories, and works hard.
Hope he lands somewhere good and fast–his column rocks!
I knew Roger some years ago. Really nice guy. Sorry to hear about this.
I’ve been a big fox411 fan for years–this is a shame.
This is total stupidity on the part of FOX. Friedman isn’t advocating piracy he was simply pointing out how easily available it is online. They are idiots for firing him. He’ll get a better gig somewhere else by Monday.
Well, Roger should have been fired a long time ago, for crimes against journalism in general.
His inane column ranks just slightly above that monstrosity Larry King used to “write” once a week for USAToday.
News Corp. has no choice but to punish this Wolverine leak with extreme prejudice.
I love it. It’s about time that the studio got Fox News under control. And Friedman promoted the movie!
It looks like the post-Chernin guys have figured out how to finally muzzle Roger Ailes.
Kinda hard to take corporate executives seriously when they denounce piracy. Pot/kettle syndrome. Pillaging takes various forms.
Friedman is one of the most insidious, despicable people to ever put pen to paper. He’s a liar and a crank. Most people cannot stand the man. He’s well known for his whispering campaigns against people. I could go on and on. He’s stupidity knew no bounds and he finally bit himself in the ass.
For all his flaws, Roger was a hoot and his column a must-read.
Fuck Fox.
I hope he resurfaces… maybe on MSNBC?
Roger Freidman is a self important, self made, self agrandized blow hard. He gets offended if you don’t kiss his ass, and he has continuously believed he was more important than the story. I wasn’t even aware he still HAD a column! To me he’s rather irrelevant. My guess is the only place that will hire him will be one of the rags. NOTE TO RAGS: He’s not worth a lot of money – don’t let him sell you a bill of goods on something that’s rather how do I say this kindly…past his prime.
Good riddance! This couldn’t have happened to a lousier guy. Funny though how he tells the truth and gets fired when for years he has told outright lies and used his column like a guillotine against celebrities who refused to kiss his lard ass. He’ll probably end up on the E channel but for now I take joy in his failure.
Reviewing pirated versions of films is tacky at best. Eli Roth complained about this in regards to Hostel 2. Most of Roth’s rants were pointless, but he was on the money about the complete lack of class, integrity, and professionalism of those who review pirated copies of workprints.
It’s a well deserved firing. At the very least, the article was an incredibly stupid move that reveals a total lack of awareness of the current concerns of a division of his employer. Whether it’s sarcastic commentary on film piracy or not, those who work for corporate masters and cash their checks should be aware of their master’s concerns. If you don’t want to bow to a corporate master and tow its line, don’t work for one.
His article is inexcusable. Any conglom with a film division will be passing on Friedman – until the groveling apology to Fox and the industry is eventually made. Friedman’s subsequent “come to Jesus” article brutally (and justifiably) demonizing file sharing uploaders and leechers and other providers and recipients of pirated material should be a good read.
I hate to see anyone get stomped for not paying attention, but it’s an unpleasant reminder to those who might make the same mistake that may prevent them from doing so.
Any resemblance between Friedman and actual journalism is purely coincidental.
This doesn’t surprise me at all — neither Friedman’s reported postings nor Fox’s actions.
Having worked with people in this industry all the time with a duty of security of client’s property, I’ll inevitably find out some have illegally download music, films, etc. AND they see nothing wrong with it.
They’re cavalier and insensitive to the whole piracy issue.
If the studios find out and the issue hasn’t gone public, they quash the whole matter as soon as possible before it leaks out to the press and hurts the stock price.
Since Friedman’s reported postings were on a public blog — and at his employer’s site — this had to be a very public lynching.
I’ll bet you anything, Friedman doesn’t really care and thinks he was a scapegoat.
Besides, he was at a McCartney concert.
Now he can write a book and I have a great title for it:
Roger Friedman’s A Big, Fat Know It All
I love how you people say it’s not “real journalism” to review a pirated film. What kind of nonsense is that? Since when is a journalist’s job to always tow the party line of a company? That’s absurd.
Well, sending people to a war on the basis of fake stuff seems to be a smaller crime on FOX !
Nikki, I thought you had balls, but i am disappointed to see you end up a corporate dicksucker like the rest. If FOX hadn’t gone on a media/FBI frenzy, this would have been a quiet leak relegated to a few people, much like the Hulk leak a few weeks before it was released. Instead they turned it into a circus and further alienated the very people that sign their paychecks — the movie viewers.
Aintitcoolnews and Cinemablend can fucking stuff it. They’re hypocritical as all hell, taking some sort of moral ground saying, “WE’D NEVER REVIEW A WORKPRINT OR ADVOCATE PIRACY! RAH RAH, LET”S BAND TOGETHER AS AN INTERNET COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN THIS.” when this is the EXACT shit that has given them a reason to exist in the first place. Short of sucking corporate dick and getting set visits, everything these sites posts are FUCKING LEAKS.
The hypocrisy is just revolting.
Oh, and the whole “Fox acts swiftly” thing? Horseshit. Roger Ailes doesn’t care when his anchors lie, ambush and harass people who disagree with their vitriolic garbage, or sexually harass their coworkers but he flips out when some shitty gossip columnist makes an off the cuff comment about streaming a movie?
Suck my fucking dick. The cinema blogosphere should be fucking ashamed of themselves, they’ve become a bunch of sycophantic tools. For all intents and purposes, nothing seperates a site like AICN from a magazine like Entertainment Weekly now besides the ability to say “fuck”
/end rant.
Maybe Harvey Weinstein will give him a job. After all, Friedman is the biggest Weinstein shill of all time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he was already on Harvey’s payroll.
Karma really is a bitch. And so is Friedman.
What a pretentious snog. “I’m at a McCartney concert”. Is that supposed to tell us that he’s “cool”, “not sweating it”, “doesn’t care”? In this economic crisis how can anyone be so caviliar about losing a job? I’d rather he’d have said, I’m at a concert and will deal with everything on Monday. Or whatever. But he’s ALWAYS so certain that he’s right, that he never considers how wrong he is. He has offended major actors, agents, studios because they refuse to give him preferance. Talk about just deserts.
While no one wants to take delight in another’s pain, I think many are dancing a jig that this man with his nasty kiss my ass or I’ll rip you a new one temper, has been quelled. Hopefully for a long while. He was no Nikki Finke. Let’s face it. He was no David Poland, Sharon Waxman, or even Patrick Goldstien. He was, in the end, his end, much ado about nothing.
Love from someone who was the benefiicary of a few toxic postings….
I found his column and the fallout of this story bizarre and awkward. Who watches a pirated movie from their studio? And what editor okays the column? Not shocked by the swift action from Fox. Friedman was making a point and so is Fox. I guess Glenn Beck is doing movie reviews now.
The most amazing thing about this is that Roger even took the time to actually WATCH the film before offering his ‘review.’ THAT may be a FIRST!!!!
His ‘opinions’ have always been ‘for sale’ and therefore useless. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Hypocrisy,
I agree with you. Fox execs decried, in public, the invention of the DVR/Tivo boxes before those ratings were factored in, yet 90% of them had one at home. I’m sure some have even watched boot legged copies of films before, possibly some that came off the internet. Pot kettle. However, Friedman was stupid. Great columns but I think someone wasn’t thinking when he hit the post button.
Why did he go to the McCartney concert? Couldn’t he find a bootleg?
Comments Summary:
Roger F is a nice guy.
Roger F is a jerk.
Pirating is acceptable.
Pirating is totally not acceptable.
Fox is great
Fox can go fuck themselves.
FBI involved.
McCartney had a concert.
Roger F went to it.
Fox can’t be that pissed at him.
His other columns & the Fox 411 archive are still on the Fox News site on Sunday morning.
Plus, let’s wait & see if anyone from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been hanging out with Rupert or anyone else from Fox.
Friedman has been attacking the RnR HOF for years, I’m sure they would love the payback.
It couldn’t have happened to a better person. Friedman is a pompous ass who was told what to write, was untruthful in his agenda filled blog. Please do not put his name and journalist in the same sentence, it is an insult to our integrity. He is no better than Perez Hilton.
Comment by The Denogginizer
“So Faux News acts promptly on all fronts, eh? Then why wasn’t Bill O’Reilly fired for allegedly sexually harrassing his female producer Andrea Mackris? Got an answer for that one, Mr. Ailes? Come on, be pithy and opine.”
OK Idiot . . . you have your own answer . . . “allegedly” is the difference.
Thank you someone for finally shutting this guy up. This is the same guy that first implied Michael Jackson was being “unfairly” prosecuted for being obsessed with boys.
Frankly, Friedman ALWAYS wrote blantantly about illegal downloads under the open context seemingly it’s ok. He’d take it upon himself to “review” an illegal posting of material from Britney Spears, critize it only for it NOT to be the real material and NEVER correct himself. He did this with a ton of music artists ( did I just call Britney an artist? ) anyway whether it was material from Mariah Carey, this guy had a history of reporting on stolen material.. The scary question is.. Why did Fox not mind it then until it comes to their own material? This is the real issue Nikki. In other words, what took them so long? I agree with Fox’s stance however. Anyone reading his column reviews of material not yet released for sale only motivated people to search and download it more to see what he was “talking” about. Hey Fox, you are lucky UMG or Jive or any other company doesn’t sue you for damages to their properties! Fox where was your “heart” then? Btw I knew this guy was finished when he foolishly published his run
in with Julia Roberts. There are just some flake you don’t screw with..
this is a clear violation of journalist ethics.
This is horrible news. Roger Friedman is fantastic. Yes he should retract his comments on file shared content, but this is like McCarthy witch hunts.
honestly, it is sad to see this happen, does it happen to people at Paramount/CBS ??? no, Cnet promotes piracy sadly, but it doesn’t seem fair, hell Roger isn’t even a tech guy.
Roger Ailes, Screw you!
So today is a beautiful sunny day AND Freidman is no longer a “journalist?” There is a God.
One of the funniest examples of self-sabotage in recent memory. Friedman had all the tools and he stabbed HIMSELF in the front.LOL. Now his lover will leave him cuz he has no job and Paradigm STILL sucks.
Um, how can you be “freelance” and an employee at Fox at the same time? If he was freelance, then why would Ailes bother to fire him? Why not send out a memo instructing Fox execs not to hire him anymore.
I ran into this problem at CBS when I encountered the mind-boggling concept of the “permanent temp.”
George Orwell is in his grave, laughing his ass off.
He stole the movie. He then wrote a review of the movie he stole. This is like watching the video you made of your crime when the cops come to arrest you…not very bright. i know it’s the world we live in…but its still illegal.
Ok if your going to villify someone for promoting piracy, I think they shouldn’t stop with him how about we go after every news site which plastered it was leaked all over the net and t.v. They are as much to blame with promoting piracy as the next guy. I mean you hear something you might be interested is available before it’s time, I’m betting 80% of the people who were out there were curious and of that 60-70% of them actually looked into it and watched the thing. Those people if the media hadn’t plastered it everywhere would never of been the wiser. So who’s the real villain the guy who watched it and reviewed it or the Media which fired the gun and placed it in the persons hand?
Roger is a great guy and his column is a must read. If he leaves Fox then as far as I am concerned it is their loss.
I’d pay for a ton of streaming content, if only I could. In fact, it might be best if Hollywood stays in its cave, because I’d probably go broke if I could download anything and everything for pay. They’d own my ass. Their loss. My ass is sweet.
Remember that Roger Friedman was the guy who wrote that «Valkyrie» was one of the worst films of 2008 BEFORE actually seeing it… Talk about a credibility issue…
just more proof that Fox’s concerns are for the rich, the corporate, and their profits. The poor and the commoner mean nothing, and are nothing. When will people stop thinking that Fox is on ‘their’ side?
“Comment by The Denogginizer
“So Faux News acts promptly on all fronts, eh? Then why wasn’t Bill O’Reilly fired for allegedly sexually harrassing his female producer Andrea Mackris? Got an answer for that one, Mr. Ailes? Come on, be pithy and opine.”
OK Idiot . . . you have your own answer . . . “allegedly” is the difference.”
THE MILLION DOLLAR OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT ISN’T ALLEGED!
If you download copyrighted material, you are stealing. Period. Period!
The music business isn’t viable anymore because of downloading. Films will go the same way.
Maybe we’ll finally get some “nasty, call the cops then destroy your computer” copy protection that actually works.
Get some impulse control, people! $10 bucks ain’t that much for 2 hours of entertainment.
So. Broadcasting blather known to anyone with any credibility as factually flawed is acceptable with this so called news organization. But…THIS!!!
O’REILLY brings in money,how intelligent people watch or listen to him boggles the mind.He’s a sexual deviant,pervert,period!!
FOX DO AMERICA A FAVOR, CLEAN UP YOUR NETWORK,start with the host,CLEAN THE HOUSE.
Firing Friedman is not going to stop anyone from doing what they want to do which is watch Hollywood movies from the comfort of their home on their own schedule.
The only mistake here is Friedman actually wasting his time at the scumhole this long. He should have left a while ago.
Downloading isn’t a crime, sharing is. If he was reporting how easy it was to find such content, Fox should of played it up. That they were so knee jerk about it only illustrates how clueless they are. Telling insight into why they are losing the Facebook war. They don’t get it, never will. Which is why they will be replaced.
Speaking of crimes, let’s get back to sexual harrassment and TV commentators who still have THEIR jobs….
There’s no point in watching big-budget spectacle movies on your computer via fuzzy feeds. The fanboys who are downloading Wolverine will all go see it.
The movies that pirating hurts are everything else- comedies, horror, performance dramas. People, say, well I don’t need to see that on a twenty foot screen, I can just wait for it until it comes out on video, but oh wait, it’s available on my computer right now so I’ll just download it. The only films that are really safe from piracy are the blockbusters, which means they will increasingly be the only viable films in theaters.
Didn’t Roger put Valkyrie on his top 10 worst list without seeing it? I’m sure he can make a pretty persuasive case that he never really saw the Wolverine leak, either.
He was always an arrogant bastard. Good riddance.
Friedman should start his own blog, and advertise. He’ll be back in good stead, quickly. And the beauty of it is that he can virtually say anything he wants to say.
somehow, roger ailes reminds me of Kim Jong Il
Bye Dickwad.
oh yeah, I have and will continue to steal any and everything I can on my computer until the day I die.
No skin off my back if some A-hole in hollywood isn’t getting paid for something they already shouldn’t be getting that much money for.
This is terrible…movies should be free, just like music…
I remember that he praised Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11, which was a surprise to me, since it was on FoxNews online at the time. Maybe that was just another indication of his maverick ways, for FoxNews.
Looks like Roger himself is on here anonymously writing all those “Roger is a great guy” posts… LOL! The truth is he is a notorious creep who writes good things about those who kiss his butt & consistently bashes those who don’t. He also sucks Clive Davis’ & Harvey Weinstein’s dicks & screws anyone they tell him to, literally & figuratively. It’s amazing the jerk kept his job as long as he did because he certainly wasn’t a respected journalist.
You clowns are all talking like Roger has died and you’re dancing on his grave. Ha. He will be rehired tomorrow and continue to spew his ragged vitriol about Michael Jackson, Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music Group and many other of his pet peeves.
I hate to admit it but I cherry picked from his column daily and I now have zero reason to hit the Fox News website.
See you soon Roger.
Roger F. is a scumbag who will be missed by no one.
Intersting to see people on here calling Fox News fake, I wonder what TV news program they watch. Im assuming MSNBC, and it wouldnt surprise me if they thought the wordl of the likes of Olbermann, Maddow, Matthews. Make fun of Fox liberals, the ratings dont lie.
So…..basically the guy got fired for telling everyone things we already know?
Nice to see how the true Masters of our Universe stick together. Us vs you guys. Who do you think will win in the end?
Finally. Friedman is a terrible columnist. I stopped going to FOX for movie news and reviews long ago because of him.
Bravo to FOX for firing this maggot.
Hollywood is vile, arrogant and ammoral, and it has infected our society with the same characteristics. It’s delightful to see them get bit in the arse by their own value system.
A real shame – his column was the only reason I visited foxnews.com. I don’t always agree with his opinions, but at least he gives it to you straight. And that column, which I read Friday morning, didn’t advocate illegal downloading… it simply pointed out how easy it is.
I don’t know which is more stupid, him downloading a crappy movie, some of the self important liberal loons on this forum, or me for reading this BS.
Another marketing blunder from FOX…
Instead of showing discretion or using this as an opportunity to rally and generate customer excitement, they have shown a complete lack of faith and confidence that their product can stand on it’s own legs.
So FOX fired him. Big deal. He should simply start his own blog, sell his own ads, and keep right on writing. Gone are the days when an old, washed-up blowgut like Ailes gets to tell us what to write. I, for one, rejoice every time a “journalist” gets laid off. You’re all a bunch of pretentious, lazy, overpaid puppets of corporate slimeballs. Die mainstream journalism!
He writes for Fox “News”, a bastion of complete lying bullshit, so no tears from me.
But I really think he was commenting on the ease that attracts pirates more than pimping piracy itself.
(But again – a Fox “News” columnist, so no loss.)
Wow like the above poster brought to our attention, by all means lets have the FBI drop everything they are doing to prevent another 911 and focus on some lame comic book crap that seems more then able to milk the same suckers over and over.
Movies LULZ , they are like so cool till you grow up
“ust more proof that Fox’s concerns are for the rich, the corporate, and their profits. The poor and the commoner mean nothing, and are nothing. When will people stop thinking that Fox is on ‘their’ side?”
Holy mental midgets! Lets see, how about all the THOUSANDS of people who are involved in any film from production to press to the actual theaters? Are they all “rich”? And who owns the fricking company? ITS A CORPORATION! Its in mutual funds, indexes for crapsakes probably half the people on this board have shares of it in their 401k without even knowing it.
Take your 2nd grade knowledge and class warfare to North Korea and see what happens when the government “helps” the commoners.
Sounds like a million dollars in free advertising for the movie to me.
Ages ago, when Roger ran a magazine called FAME, he offered me a contrib. editor post, which I didn’t accept but I loved the idea he offered it to me. He was always smart, a gentleman, very informed. Too bad he was axed. I’d wager there was another hidden agenda– isn’t he over 45? Wellllllllllll………..
downloading and copying is not stealing, neither is it piracy.
10 bucks is too much for two hours of drivel, and 99 cents is too much for a song.
Fox is crap.
I never realized that Fox was a humanitarian charity that concerned itself with “the poor and the commoner”. I always thought Fox was a corporation whose interest was profit for their shareholders. Boy, do I feel stupid.
I don’t condone anything illegal,but when are the studios,record labels,et.al,going to get on the bandwagon about digital distribution?Haven’t they had this tech since 1979(commercially)?Hell,even microslack has noticed the internet’s gonna be big,by now.
I love reading the Fox bashing comments from all the left wing morons. How is it that they breathlessly follow every move and know every detail about its broadcasters? Not even they can bear to watch the crapola spewing from the mouths of idiots like Keith Obamamann and Chris “Tingle Leg” Matthews.
I’m not giving Hollywood any money ever again,I could have downloaded the flick..I know where it is,but I figure the Movie will go straight to DVD anyway and be free on TV in 6 months..I still wont watch it.
Dear Hollywood..Have fun making sh’t and getting Conservatives in the theaters,you’re doing a great job!
He was a bitter guy who had a major hard-on for slamming Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson. It was stupidity that got him fired. Oh well.
i loved that roger would take on jann and his insipid vanity project, the rock hall of fame. nobody else dares trash it, and it’s completely idiotic. ditto madonna’s self-aggrandizing projects….i thought the column was just pointing out how easy it is to find movies online; i can’t believe it could be considered support for illegal downloads. the only reason i check out fox online is to read roger.
Great to see Friedman go. He has always been anti Christian and never misses an opportunity to trash any one or anything that has anything to do with Christianity or Catholicism.
What a joke.
The reality is the whole thing is absurd…. It’s bad to steal, its bad to lie, its bad to charge me $15 for a movie ticket, $10 for popcorn, and another $10 for a soda.
The entertainment industry is just going to have to face the facts…. The public is no longer their own captive audience to charge as they please….
Sorry, but I think this is ridiculous. I didn’t read Roger’s column, but this smacks of Fox just being pissed off that someone screwed them over by leaking “Wolverine” to the ‘net and trying to take it out on anyone who dares to see humor in the situation. So the guy decided it would make for a good read to see what all the fuss was about. He’s an entertainment writer; he would’ve gotten to see a screening of the film, anyway. It’s not like they were losing any money out of the deal, and it’s naive to think that people won’t go see this in the theater, so in the long run, all he did was offer up a positive review and mock the ridiculousness of piracy.
Roger Freidman was almost a bad a film critic as Scott Holleran. Good riddance.
Those idiots in their Ivory towers will never learn.
There’s a reason Hollywood almost exclusively ALWAYS uses Macs and other toy computers. They have no idea just what computing is. The internet, technology and P2P still is ‘containable’ to them which is laughable after 15yrs of trying their best.
Furthermore putting their heads in the sand and firing people who point out the OBVIOUS is also counter productive.
Just wrapped up my downloads of tonight episodes of Kings and Celeb Apprentice along with Last Chance Harvey all in 720p HD with no DRM. Otherwise they’d have me wait and install iTunes or Amazon Unbox and watch a lower res version and expect me to pay pay for it.
“69.Intersting to see people on here calling Fox News fake, I wonder what TV news program they watch. Im assuming MSNBC, and it wouldnt surprise me if they thought the wordl of the likes of Olbermann, Maddow, Matthews. Make fun of Fox liberals, the ratings dont lie.
Comment by Kyle — April 5, 2009 @ 5:21 pm”
Ratings can lie just like polls. You are also assuming that just because we don’t watch Fox, we watch MSNBC. Both networks have their own agendas. Personally, it isn’t the source or sources you get your news from, but the various outlets that have different views (and recognizing the story is told from a slanted perspective). If all you are seeing and reading are from right/left wing outlets, you are doing yourself a disservice.
Fox news can freak out about this, but it isn’t going to deter people from downloading or streaming. However, Time Warner’s cap might do it. I stream about 10 gigs of audio a month, not to mention my Netflix, gaming, and porn activity, I bet I use 40 gigs for porn alone. Anyway, dickish moves like this don’t make me feel bad when I catch a movie online instead of paying for it.
I read the review and Roger essentially was endorsing and advocating piracy. Not smart when you work for for a large media organization. He shot himself in the foot. Beyond that It’s well known in Hollywood that Roger is an unstrustworthy scumbag who leaks crap to the gossip rags and makes money on the side, while being paid by Fox News. It’s high time that irrating blowghard was fired. The chickens have finally come home to roost. He’s a very bad and sinister man.
Lot of people missing the point.
I liked reading Friedman’s columns (would go there right after I read what Nikke Finke had to say and I HATE Foxnews). Doesn’t matter. Friedman stepped over the ethical line. Don’t know if he was trying to appear cool or not and don’t care. I was appalled that he saw and reviewed something stolen. Hellloo, that’s like volunteering you’ve seen a stolen Van Gogh.
Good for Fox News. Trust me, that’s the first time I’ve ever said that.
Good riddance Roger. Your columns, while insightful at times, had grown to anger and pettiness towards some celebrities. Your best work was when your columns took an informational approach. Your worst were the ones your wrote ripping apart celebrities you didn’t like.
Where ever you stand on Friedman; his was a maverick column — he always told it like it was. He was always the first click in the morning. Then DH. Truth be told, this is more ink than WOLVERINE semes to deserve; as I’ve been told firsthand that it is not very good. Might this be an internal plan to promote it? Hey, as a PR-man since 1980 … anything’s possible.
Roger’s column always had first-hand information …some of it actually mine … which always made for a good day as everyone of any importance read it. I think the column in question was terrific and ironic! Actually, even made me now want to see the movie! Ailes, as producer of the Mike Douglas TV show a long time ago in a place far away, may have gone a bit far this time. Come back Roger Friedman… all is forgiven! A Tale of Two Rogers indeed!
Someone paid to destroy others can’t help but destroy himself at the same time. Every day he makes his bed, grovels in it, comes up smelling pretty stinky. As they say, P-U!
What about this scenario? Fox themselves leaked this “unfinished” copy of the movie. Then in a deal with Friedman had him do this “review” with a payoff. Which would explain how he afforded the McCartney concert {snicker}. Now even if you watch this pirated movie as I understand you do not get the full impact of a finished movie. So wouldn’t even the down loaders be more interested in seeing the “finished” version in the Theaters?
Think of all the publicity that Fox is getting for no money at all. Easy to see by counting the responses on this blog show this is pure water cooler magic.
Now is this so far fetched for an organization that was so supportive of an administration going to war on the claims that someone {Saddam} was doing something wrong, even when they were proved later not to be?
It’s so funny because of the scandal that is about the movie that is a total shiiiit. I would never pay a cent to watch it at a cinema. Never!
I stopped reading him when he started his obssession with Katie Holmes.
So it’s News Corp policy that piracy is wrong and that promoting it is worse than wrong and, hence, worthy of immediate dismissal, but…
It’s also News Corp policy to be a green company, to strive to make its broadcasts carbon neutral, to support initiatives targeted at combatting climate change (for example, the purchasing of carbon offsets)…
And yet, the yahoos at FOX Noise (O’Reilly, Hannity, everyone down to the interns) CONSTANTLY and PUBLICLY declare global warming to be a hoax and those who call the public’s attention to it to be either insane or insidious.
So why the hell haven’t jackasses like O’Reilly and Hannity been deservedly thrown head-first out of FOX News HQ, pink slips in hand, along with a stern public scolding from Rupert himself for denying global warming?
It’s just baffling.
Yes, they needed to let Friedman go for that. I read the beginning of that article and was like, “Huh? He’s opening writing a review of a pirated film?!!” Sure enough, he was fired and for good cause. Good move on News Corp’s part. When a columnist writes a review of a pirated film like that, he’s condoning the action and that’s just messed up.
So is watching a pirated movie illegal? Or just downloadinga pirated movie it is illegal? So, talking about a pirated movie, that you don’t have in your possesion is illegal?
Either way it doesn’t matter. Fox is a piece of work. Who doesn’t love to watch Glen Beck foam at the mouth…
So Richard Friedman gets the axe.
An insidious twit and all-time ass.
I’m slightly shocked but quite overjoyed-
That the plague-ridden rat is now unemployed.
Karma one, Friedman zero.
Well, I didn’t always agree with him, but I can definitely say that I will never, ever look at Foxnews dot com again. He was really the only reason to read it! As it turns out, I don’t read the NY Post anymore, for similar reasons. We’ll find you Roger, wherever you are, but no more hagiographies!
Ok, I have been reading about this all over the web and to be honest i have to wonder how stupid Fox is.
I mean. look at all the hype this has kicked up. Face it, if you have a problem with a leak and you want to avoid people downloading it, you try to take care of it as quickly and quietly as possible. Making this big of a uproar about it means more people hear about it. And do you know what a lot of people who read an article like this are going to do? They are going to go to their favorite Torrent site and download the copy so they can see it.
Now being as logical and sensible as I am I get that piracy is not the huge infamous crime production companies try to make it. Now naturally I’d be pissed that something of mine was being used without my permission, but if it was being downloaded on such a massive scale and I got credit for it, I ain’t gonna complain.
Now yes, the fact that it is early would be a big issue. But honestly us hard core fans are gonna go see it no matter what. If it’s good work then people will go and spend their hard earned money to see it as a reward for good work.
If anything piracy keeps the movie and music industry honest, because they have to compete with the free version. The only way they can win is having such a quality product that people say “ok this was good enough that I am willing to spend my money on it”. And especially with a pre-release leak like this it’ll really give us a good idea about whether or not we want to pay to see the movie.
When I read something like “We are worried that the leak will cause our profits to suffer” I immediately get a warning flag. Why is you’re product not good enough, so as soon as we know the content we won’t want to see it? Is that it? So basically you’re saying that the only reason we would pay is to find out what was in it. That kinda sounds like you tricking us into seeing a movie by giving it a title with a lot of marque value and then not delivering.
If that is the case are you really even worth my money? Money is given in exchange for a service. Your service is to entertain me. You do a good job, I give you money. You don’t and I won’t. Simple as that.
So stop bitching about the leak and don’t fire a guy for telling people how it is. If you want to get rid of the article do so, maybe give him a slap on the wrist to say “don’t do this again”… but come on Fox. Get with it!
Hey Xander, stealing is stealing. You can rationalize it all you want about the big, bad, narcissistic movie companies and their ilk, using people up and throwing them away, undercutting their staff, reducing salaries and benefits, etc etc.
But you are no better, and in fact worse, for making a conscious decision to “take” something that does not belong to you and then say, “If it was worth it, then I’d buy it. But because it’s not, I’ll steal it.”
It’s a way of devaluing others in order to justify your own failure of ethics and morals.
Suck it up. You’re a turd trying hard to coat yourself with icing. But you’re still a turd.
There are worse sins than downloading movies to watch in my own home. In NYC, I think that not curbing ones dog to be a greater offense. I know what the tradeoffs are and accept them. Hollywood isn’t going out of business anytime soon. They don’t care about me and I don’t care about them. For the record I downloaded Wolverine and stopped watching after about 20 minutes because I felt guilty. No not really. I stopped because it wasn’t a finished product. It would be like taking a picture of the Mona Lisa to use as a desktop background on my pc before it was completed. I can wait.
I think this whole piracy issue is hillarious to be honest. Hey! Anyone remember the days that it was considered immoral to have a CD burner in your computer because you could duplicate copywright materials, and everyone was paranoid that the FBI had some sort of traking system that set off an alarm when you burned an album for your friend? Those were the days…
Anyways, I would have to say that bickering here isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion. I certainly know that my views on wether it’s right or wrong to download that new release from my favorite band hasn’t been affected by reading any of this. I will also openly admit that my descision to post my stand point is nothing more than a vain gesture with the founded assumption that anyone else cares what i have to say about the subject.
On a side note, i like how it’s illegal to download movies, music, etc to your hard drive, however streaming the same material via the internet through a website (i.e. hulu, pandora, etc.) is perfectly fine. Granted the selection isn’t as large, but companies don’t seem to be too worried about their season dvd box set sales dropping from people watching the shows there. Maybe it’s because those sites pay for a liscence or something. Goooo money!
well isnt that guy stupid why couldnt he just shut up
but i dont blame him.
the cinemas are overpriced any way
I think this is all stupid. Look some jackass lost his job becuase he pissed the wrong folks off. That’s not news.
It’s not news that some movie that I might go see got leaked on the internet. It’s also not news if someone watches it. It’s not news if someone cared to talk about watching it.
One thing though… don’t reviewers watch all this stuff without paying for it anyway? So if he can watch anything and review it without having to pay then one could argue he can’t be guilty of stealing something he was going to be given for free anyway.
I don’t care about this guy… or fox or anyone else for that matter; I just think it’s funny how the world works.