The Story Gawker Doesn't Want You To Read*: James Franco Nominated for Special Blog Prize
Few would disagree that the most interesting thing about visioneer, blogger, and actor James Franco is that he hates Gawker.
He hates Gawker because, in his words, Gawker writes "mean things about me." He hates Gawker because of a poll about a blind item from 2008.
But most of all, he hates Gawker because Gawker is afraid to publicize a story about how he was nominated for a special blogging prize for the raw, courageous blogs he writes for the Huffington Post.
As an entertainment journalist and scholar, I am embarrassed to admit that I was not aware James Franco regularly disseminated his teachings, in blog form, to the Huffington Post. I have since been informed, by a fellow entertainment journalist, that they are well worth reading. (Direct quote: "…it is the funnniiiiest. He is like the least self-aware human.")
Here is an excerpt from his most recent blog post:
The election stuff is pretty cool. It feels like we can all exhale for a minute. I know a few people who got raped, and they were waiting to find out if it was God's will or not. Good to know it wasn't.
In the last paragraph of that post, James Franco announces that he has been nominated for a National Entertainment Journalism award by the Los Angeles Press Club for the soul-baring blogs he blogs on his blog.
He also observes that no outlet other than HuffPo will run the story about how this "actor/Yale doctoral candidate" (his words) was nominated for a Great Blogging Prize, because we (specifically: Gawker; the New York Post) do not "want to publicize" that James Franco is—conservatively—a million times better at our jobs than we are.
Hmmmm, what else? My first chapbook came out, Strongest of the Litter, but people seem to be more interested in who I'm dating than poetry. Oh yeah, I got nominated for a National Entertainment Journalism award for these HuffPost blogs, but no other outlet is going to run that story, right? Hahaha — why would Gawker or the New York Post want to publicize that an actor/Yale doctoral candidate is nominated for an award for something that they are doing themselves? I'm pretty proud of it, but I can see why they must hate me.
We do not hate you, James Franco. We love you. We love you because you are famous and come off a little weird, so you make for good entertainment journalism fodder.
We love you because, as the Huffington Post writes, you are dating Ashley Benson.
We love you because, as the Huffington Post writes, Ashley Benson met you "while she was still with her former boyfriend – Justin Bieber's BFF Ryan Good."
We love you because, as the Huffington Post writes, "James Franco Naked: Actor Strips Down, Painted Gold On 'Iconoclasts' (EXCLUSIVE PHOTO)."
Consequently, we at Gawker would like to congratulate James Franco, of Huffington Post Media Group, for his National Entertainment Journalism Award nomination for best entertainment blog by an individual. We would also like to congratulate Elizabeth Leonard of People Magazine on her National Entertainment Journalism Award nomination for best feature under 1,000 words for her piece "Kristie Alley's 100 lb. Slimdown!" and the only nominee in the best tweet category, Dylan Howard of Celebuzz for his work live-tweeting the death of Whitney Houston, "Whitney Houston's Death – Happening Right Now."
Best of luck to all nominees and Yale doctoral candidates. We look forward to reading your poetry.
[h/t James Franco, Image via Getty]
*Thinks You Won't Read, Because Stories About Bloggers Being Nominated for Blogging Awards Are Boring