Heath Ledger Drug Video Cease & Desist Letter: “Entertainment Tonight” Pulls Heath Ledger Drug Party Video After Publicist Letter

January 31st, 2008 · 2 Comments · Tagged as Heath Ledger

It appears Entertainment Tonight’s decision not to air 2006 video footage of late actor Heath Ledger abusing cocaine has more to do with a scathing letter from Heath’s publicist questioning the show’s ethics, that made the rounds throughout the Hollywood wire on Wednesday, as opposed to any attack of conscious or new found “respect” for the actor’s loved ones.

Heath’s publicist has sent the following letter chastising ET/The Insider to several of the affiliates television competitors:

”Tonight Entertainment Tonight/The Insider are previewing an extremely distasteful segment regarding Heath Ledger. The segment centers around a two-year old video ET purchased for a large sum of money in the hopes of stirring up a salacious and exploitive story about Heath, which would win them big ratings on the first day of sweeps. The two outlets did not even have the courtesy to wait until after Heath’s burial to broadcast this segment. They intend to air the full segment tomorrow.

For the sake of his grieving family and friends, his child, and common decency, we hope to pressure “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider” to do the right thing and pull the spot. This is not journalism, it is sensationalism. It is a shameful exploitation of the lowest kind, to a talented and gentle soul, undeserving of such treatment.”

Personally, I don’t think they should have pulled the video. Perhaps, it’s too soon to air it right now, but to not air it at all accomplishes nothing when it’s apparent that Heath struggled with substance abuse issues. Not to speak ill of the dead, but by now it should be quite obvious that Heath Ledger was a drug addict-at least at one point in his life. Drug use doesn’t automatically nullify his achievements. He was still a talented actor, but he was drug addict-pulling a video demonstrating it won’t change that fact. I’m sure the Lohan, Spears, Winehouse and Hilton families don’t enjoy being subjected to photographic and video proof of their loved ones’ mistakes on a daily basis either, but no one’s screaming about taking down videos and photos of Britney’s breakdown, Amy smoking crack, or Lindsay’s relapse. IMHO, being dead doesn’t make someone immune from receiving the same treatment the rest of us get.

Matilda isn’t going to be a toddler forever, at some point she’s going to want to know more about the father she isn’t likely to remember. Not implying that the footage is anything that a daughter would want to see, but when she’s all grown up, Matilda is likely to find out about Heath’s drug use with or without video evidence: reports of her father’s addiction has certainly been reported on enough in print over the course of the last week. Perhaps, actually seeing someone else with so much going for him in his life throwing it all away just to get high could be the incentive that other celebrity addicts need to actually pull themselves together.

Some of you probably have a different view. Feel free to share your thoughts. Did ET make the right decision by pulling the Heath Ledger drug video?

Get PopCrunch News Updates

What's Hot At PopCrunch

That was a kickass article. What do I do now?

2 responses so far ↓

Lillie // Jan 31, 2008 at 6:40 am

I think this was absolutely the right thing to do. Had they run this story while he was ALIVE that would be one thing. But prior to his death, when did you hear of him? Apparently this tape has been floating around for YEARS and nobody wanted it. For the record, the tape is well documented in other magazines. It shows him drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. It NEVER shows Heath personally asking for or taking drugs. This video has nothing to do with his death other than sensationalism. It is being used to draw an audience. It is not appropriate. It is not necessary. IF he had a drug problem that “worried” hollywood, perhaps they should have done something and said something prior to his death. Pat O Brien has ballz of steel considering his own controversy to consider airing this. Unreal hypocrite. Finally, the pulled it because the PR firm essentially threatened to not make their clients available to these tabloid shows if they air this disrespectful tape.
Loren // Feb 11, 2008 at 4:18 pm

Let the guy have his decent burial but let’s not keep the truth hidden just for the sake of preserving his name. Give it a month or two and don’t do it just for ratings! Talented and troubled seem to go hand in hand these days and parents of would be actors need to start impacting their kid’s lives NOW so that they can avoid the problems of Britney, Mischa, Brad, Heath, Lindsay, Christian, Kurt, Mary-Kate, Paris, River, Owen, Macauley, Corey, Amy, Anna Nicole, and so on. It’s really staggering how messed up so many people are these days and have been over the years and you want to try to understand their mixed up lives and the difficulties they go through but at the same time, as an observer, you start to not care. And you start thinking horrible thoughts, especially when you see another story of Britney being locked up or of Amy Winehouse being forced into rehad, “Good riddance!” And then you feel like an uncaring soul but what else can I feel? I’m not their parent. I’m not responsible for their digressions. It becomes so ridiculous, you find yourself laughing at yet another headline in the supermarket. All I can do is say, “Don’t cover up for these over privileged celebs anymore and maybe it will save their lives!” I don’t know what the answer IS but I know that the answer isn’t “Let’s pull this video of Heath doing drugs so that this info NEVER reaches the public.” If more “friends” of celebs ratted their friends out in the first place, we might have a lot more of them with us today.