Axl Rose is trying to get Google to take the "fat axl" photos off the internet http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/06/axl-rose-sends-notice-to-google-demanding-takedown-of-fat-memes/ …
Axl Rose, founder of Guns ’n’ Roses and AC/DC pinch hitter, has a hate/hate thing for paparazzi — he has scuffled with them in public, during shows, and once at an airport when a photographer started stalking his entourage.
The digital information age has made it even more difficult, if not impossible, for public figures to control their image.
During a St. Louis appearance in 1991, Rose interrupted the band to berate a fan with a camera; when security didn’t confiscate the camera fast enough to suit him, he dove into the crowd, raining punches on the camera holder, then stomped out of his own show.
But Rose’s current nemesis might be a bit out of his league: He’s going after tech leviathan Google over some unflattering snapshots.
The photos, snapped by Winnipeg Free Press photographer Boris Minkevitch, show an out-of-shape Rose onstage in 2010. They accompanied a five-star review, though, and didn’t garner much attention until they went viral as the “Axl Rose Is Fat” meme, an endless series of sophomoric fat-shaming jokes at Rose’s expense.
Rose, who’s 54 now, may not be the drink of water he was back in 1989 when “Appetite for Destruction” exploded onto the scene, but he’s hardly a gastric-bypass candidate either.
That hasn’t stopped users from gleefully flooding the internet with Rose’s photos captioned with cruel parodies of GNR lyrics: “Sweet Pie O’ Mine”; “Welcome to McDonald’s / We Got Pies and Shakes.” Rose fired back with a stack of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaints aimed at Google, demanding the photos be removed from the internet.
As many post-party college students have learned the hard way, erasing embarrassing photos online is like fighting the mythical Hydra — cut off one head and two more take its place. It’s even worse for celebrities, though, thanks to the so-called Streisand Effect.
In 2003, Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for $50 million, saying a public registry of coastline photos, which included a shot of her Malibu estate, was an invasion of privacy. Not only did she lose, the suit itself blew up in her face: Before the lawsuit, the photo had been downloaded six times. Once the suit was filed, the photo was downloaded 420,000 times in less than a month.
Mike Masnick of Techdirt.com later coined the term Streisand Effect, pointing out that trying to suppress something online is instead the best way to make sure everyone sees it.
Streisand and Rose are just two of many who haven’t gotten the memo: Kanye West, who forced Getty Images to delete some particular photos of him wearing a kilt, merely immortalized the incident. Beyoncé, who took exception to some awkward photos of her 2013 Super Bowl appearance, pitched a legal battle to have them suppressed that overshadowed the performance itself.
And the father of them all, Kanye West rockin the Kilt..
They have lots of company, of course: There’s big money to be made in the celebrity embarrassment biz: compromising photos or videos; leaked audiotapes of racist tirades or drunken threats; even sickening ethical breaches such as stolen autopsy or crime scene photos.
Trying to nuke embarrassing online content might be as foolish as King Canute ordering the tide to cease, but it hasn’t stopped a lucrative industry from springing up, promising celebrities they can get the genie back in the bottle.
Ironic, isn’t it? Hollywood, spawning a glut of companies to protect celebrities from the fat-shaming and unhealthy body images they created in the first place?
One such company, Web Sheriff, is handling the aforementioned DMCA filings on Axl Rose’s behalf, claiming the photos were published without permission. As others have pointed out, though, no one minded Winnipeg Free Press's publication of the photos until the Fat Axl meme was born.
The legal minutiae are irrelevant, though. Now that the photos have been copied, captioned and reproduced, they’re as irretrievable as Axl Rose’s lost youth. The cost of celebrity has always included unwanted scrutiny and loss of privacy. The legal hurdles for a celebrity or politician suing for defamation or libel are far higher than for most private citizens, for instance — the courts recognize that it’s simply not possible to be famous and anonymous at the same time.
For better or worse, the digital information age has made it even more difficult, if not impossible, for public figures to control their image. Many celebrities seem to manage by ignoring the potshots, rumors and unflattering photos, along with trying not to embarrass themselves in public in the first place.
Not Axl Rose, whose infamous temper and ego comprise just as much of his legacy as his ferocious singing voice. As cruel and unfair as the Fat Axl meme is, Axl Rose has, sadly, done more to immortalize it than anyone else.
http://www.lifezette.com/popzette/axl-appetite-for-deletion/
