Chapter 236： Hit back

"This is a trap." Joseph couldn't believe it, his face was stiff, "and I stepped in like this!" Joseph is blaming himself, he is blaming himself for his negligence, he has not been a good broker. Not only did he not have his due responsibility, but he also voluntarily assaulted reporters. Although it has avoided the tragedy of Hugo directly beating reporters, for any artist, the agent is actually a community of interests with Hugo and is inseparable. What's more, the current Joseph is more like Hugo's manager, and the relationship is closer. Therefore, Joseph's assault of reporters is no different from Hugo's assault of reporters. Perhaps the negative impact can be smaller, but it is not much smaller.

"Me too." Hugo looked at Joseph and said, Joseph was stunned, "Remember? I waved my fist at the **** reporter, just a step slower than you!"

Joseph shook his head, hugged his head in annoyance, and said in a low voice, "But I should stop you, I should stay calm."

"Joe, wake up, it's not your fault." Carl was sitting beside Joseph, and he quickly comforted him.

"Yeah, if it were me, I would have stepped forward and punched that **** ‘jerk’!" Alex also immediately echoed. Charlize closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You are not helping." Then Charlize looked at Joseph, "Joe, it's not time to take responsibility for each other. No matter whose fault it is, things have happened. We must Find a solution. According to Hugo, it is obvious that the reporter is crazy. He just spared everything in order to change this news. The news in this area will come in tomorrow. If we are not prepared, things will only happen. It’s even worse.” Charlize used “us” instead of “you”. Hugo noticed this detail. First, there was comfort from Meryl, Jack, Al and others, and now there are a group of friends who share the same hatred. Hugo has regained some confidence. Maybe the entertainment industry is really sinister. Things like Anthony will emerge in endlessly, but at least he still has this group of friends around him.

"Of course, in fact, you and Hugo are not wrong at all. They were all planned by that damn'jerk'." Charlize also murmured angrily. Although she has been keeping calm, her heart is still in the end. There is no way to forgive the reporter's nonsense. Hearing Charlize's mutter, even though the atmosphere was tense at this time, the corners of Hugo's mouth could not help but raised.

"So, what should I do now?" Alex said, but the response was zero, and everyone fell silent. Now everyone knows what it will be to meet Hugo and Joseph tomorrow, but no one knows whether Anthony has any follow-up measures in the future. To make matters worse, both Hugo and Joseph thought of Tracy and Lang, whether they would fall into trouble, or further imagine whether Anthony's provocation today was behind them.

Think about it carefully, Anthony’s topic today is not made out of thin air. The first is awards, the second is big names, the third is plagiarism, and the fourth is Uma. Any topic of this is nonsense. But in Anthony’s mouth, there is always a source of unsuspecting, then, where is this source? Joseph's first reaction was to look up at Charlize, and as expected, he saw Charlize’s sight falling on Uma. This made Joseph unable to help but turn his attention to Uma. In fact, the common point of these four topics today is Uma. Regarding the discussion of awards, Hugo has always been in Malibu, and there is no "communication" with friends. Even if there is, there is only Uma. Hugo's friends know that it is natural that Uma is included; As for plagiarism, it can be considered that Anthony deliberately poured dirty water. After all, this is a speculation without any source. Finally, it is said that Uma was taken over by Hugo, which reminded Joseph of the relationship between Uma and Martin Baum on New Year’s Eve. 'Talk, and Uma chose to stay at Sidney's Pollack's party...More importantly, Uma's appearance tonight is too strange. Joseph didn't remember clearly during the entire confrontation. , But he remembered that when Hugo was talking to Huilier Streep and the others, Uma was standing two steps away next to him, and "yin" bowed his head thinking about something. Originally, Joseph thought Uma was frightened, but he was worried about Hugo. But after this, Uma has been absent-minded. She was originally a person with a strong sense of existence, but after returning, Uma almost disappeared, always staying in her own world.

Joseph let out a long breath, and forced himself to stop thinking madly. Because Joseph knew that all this was just speculation. Joseph knew that his speculation was without any basis. It was like Anthony's slander on Hugo. If he said casually, he would slander Uma, which would be irresponsible. What's more, Joseph knew that Hugo believed in Uma, and Uma had no reason to harm Hugo. Therefore, Joseph couldn't help but withdraw his gaze. He and Charlize had their gazes ‘crossed’ together, looked at each other, and then moved away from other places.

In the silence, Karl's voice came over, "Or, Tracy...or Lang..."

"No, of course not!" Hugo said categorically. He knew what Carl meant, and no matter who was behind the incident, or Tracy and Lang were not involved. In terms of personal connections, Trey Xihelang has a great advantage, and they can help too much. But Hugo did not mean to ask them for help at all, "I would rather rely on my own ability to deal with it, no matter what the result is, I am willing to accept it!"

Hearing Hugo's affirmative answer, Carl shrugged and said nothing more. Hugo thought carefully, "It is unnecessary to consider how things happened now, or what'conspiracy' is waiting for us in the future." Just now, Hugo's brain was also a mess. , About Tracy and Lang, about Anthony, about the entertainment industry, about negative news, all kinds of thoughts are'intertwined', so that he has no way to sort out a clue, Hugo is convincing himself, It's also persuading everyone. At this moment, it is irrational to investigate the source that has no clue and the future that has no signs at all. The top priority is to deal with the coming ‘chaos’ tomorrow, and then soldiers will come to cover the water. After all, I am in the dark, and I can only do that.

"I think..." Hugo's voice regained a touch of warmth, but it was more determined than usual. "I think we will take the initiative to admit our mistakes in front of the media and don't entangle them..."

"Why!" Alex interrupted Hugo directly. He felt that he couldn't understand it. "It's the **** reporter who provoked you. It's clearly that he keeps slandering you and insulting you. Why should we admit our mistakes? , Why! This is not fair!"

"Alex..." Hugo tried to say something, but Alex stood up impulsively and shouted angrily, "We should take the initiative to expose the reporter's disgusting behavior. We must fight to the end. This It is not allowed. He can insult you today, but he bows his head when he sees you. In the future, everyone can insult you. There is no end to this!"

No one stopped Alex, because everyone knew what Alex said was reasonable, and even Hugo could not refute it.

"But we have no evidence." Hugo said weakly. "We don't have any evidence that the reporter slandered me. Things happened so quickly that no one next to him heard our conversation. If he didn't take the initiative to provide these evidences. , We have no way to prove that he deliberately provoked."

"Moreover, when it comes to slander, you know, it's not an easy task." Hugo added. Defamation is a tricky crime in the United States. In the United States, where freedom of speech is admired, every citizen can freely express his or her political views and criticize improper policies of the government. Even if your criticism lacks factual basis or is completely untrue, the government will not sue you for defamation. From a purely theoretical point of view, if you openly attack another person with false language, causing the other party's economic or reputation loss, it constitutes a crime of defamation, but the actual situation is much more complicated than this. In the United States, if there are two kinds of people who are publicly scolded, it is difficult to sue others for defamation. One is a government official, and the other is a celebrity. As a government official, you must endure the pain of being scolded. Even if the other party’s scolding is completely false, you cannot sue the other party for slander. As a celebrity, the same is true, because as a public figure, the person concerned can only tolerate the abuse of others. If you sue someone for being abused, you will generally not win.

In order to protect the freedom of speech to the utmost extent, it is difficult for celebrities to win the lawsuit through legal means when they are attacked by speech or even slandered. The biggest reason for this difficulty is that the reports of celebrities are often fantasizing, which is to satisfy the basic rights of the public to know and freedom of speech. In the conviction of defamation, it is necessary to be able to prove "economic or reputation loss."

Naturally, economic or reputation losses cannot be justified. For example, a man-made rumor said that the person had an infectious disease or bad habits, causing the person to lose a job with an annual income of 100,000 U.S. dollars. Then the person has a real evidence to sue him for defamation. In order to prove that one has suffered economic losses, the individual’s personal income may be disclosed; in order to prove that one’s ‘spiritual’ loss may have to disclose the person’s medical ‘medicine’ expenses, and so on. If you don’t want to make it public, or if you can’t come up with true evidence, it’s best not to sue others for defamation, otherwise it’s a waste of effort, time, and attorney fees.

And celebrities happen to be unable to show the true evidence in this regard. Because as a public figure, he was originally a career under the spotlight, most of the "slander" imposed on him was only one of the effects of entertainment, and the harm caused could not be obtained at all. For example, a public figure presents evidence that he has lost an interview opportunity because of slander. Virtual things such as "interview opportunities" cannot be submitted as evidence. Therefore, it is obviously not a wise behavior for public figures to use defamation against the media. Hugo is undoubtedly one of the public figures. "Furthermore, even if we proved him to be slanderous, it is a fact that we beat the reporter. He has not only human evidence but also physical evidence. The wound on his face is the best evidence. I can even imagine him deliberately. It appeared in front of the media with a face full of wounds.” This is the fundamental reason why Hugo had the courage to admit wrong ideas, because facts cannot be changed. Compared with evading responsibility, taking responsibility is the right choice.

"I should have hit him." Joseph said in a low voice. Although this was just a sigh from him, there was an inexplicable sense of joy at this moment, which made all the people in the room flutter, and couldn't help but laugh. Voice. Hugo nodded even more, "Yes, you should smash your fist in places that you can't see on him, such as ribs or buttocks."