Chapter 285: New Divide
Since the video was released and the public opinion started to reverse, North American media began with a bit of reserve, while British media from across the Atlantic, even including several British newspapers owned by the News Group, completely lost all restraint and changed its position to support Eric. Of course, the reason was his British ident.i.ty; at least, this is what British media thought, just like anyone from Britain who made it big in Hollywood would be called the English Rose, no matter if the actress had joined the American citizenship.
Eric, as a Hollywood director who grew up in London till the age of 8 and still holds British citizenship, and created a series of box office miracles, was of course the pride of British people without any surprise before the scandal happened, which was obvious from the box office performance of his several movies in Britain.
Therefore, although British media followed the trend to criticize Eric as the scandal began, most of the media used the tone of being unable to do anything about their own children.
Eric Williams, who was originally thought to have been brought low, was actually the victim of a vicious attack, as evidenced by the emotion of the British media.
The day the video was released, the famous British newspaper, The Guardian, published an article on the front page, summarizing the attacks Eric had suffered in the past year as "the most serious public persecution of the late twentieth century."
"Eric Williams has left a series of cla.s.sics in the world film industry in just one year, which is very rare in the history of world movies. His Home Alone series brought laughter to children all over the world, his Pretty Woman and Sleepless in Seattle gave young men and women a longing for love, his Lethal Weapon let us experience an exciting battle between justice and evil. His Island of Terror made us realize that horror movies can still be scary without blood and violence..."
It was this incredibly talented young man who suffered a series of heartbreaking accusations due to his miraculous rise. It was arguably the most serious public opinion persecution of the twentieth century. If we look closely, we will find that for more than a month, the media"s series of scandals about Eric Williams were basically baseless fabrications based on a few blurry photos, and the several lawsuits Eric was facing were completely manipulated from behind. It is unimaginable that in a country like the United States, where freedom is always proclaimed to be above all, the news and public opinion would be manipulated to such an uncontrollable extent, which must be said to be ironic.
After the comment article of the Guardian was published, the thesis of "the most serious public opinion persecution of the twentieth century" that Eric Williams was undergoing was quickly recognized by many media outside the United States and quickly returned to North America.
Most of the American media, which had only been following the trend, quickly accepted this point of view. While clearing themselves up, they began to defend Eric.
The most intense reaction to this reversal of fortunes was not from the media, but from ordinary people. History has proven time and again that the people are the most easily fooled, yet also the most difficult to fool. Aron Campbell"s words in the video were undoubtedly a huge provocation to the freedom- and transparency-seeking American public.
In just three days, through the fan organizations spread across North America, protests in support of Eric erupted in more than a dozen major cities in the US, including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Although the number of partic.i.p.ants in each city was small, even in Hollywood"s home base of Los Angeles, the number of partic.i.p.ants did not exceed two thousand. But it involved almost all the major cities in the US, even the most stupid person knows that if the federal government does not take action, this matter will definitely expand and eventually become uncontrollable.
When the Federal Government was still in the midst of urgent deliberations for a response, Erik had made a statement, announcing his first single to be released on Valentine"s Day as his response to the controversy. All proceeds from the single"s release would be donated to a legal aid foundation in North America that helps vulnerable communities.
Never before had something like this been done, and Erik"s fans and those not familiar with him alike were antic.i.p.ating the release of this single with great excitement. Sensing the opportunity, the major record companies in North America all contacted Erik in the first moment with their most favourable terms to release the single.
Seemingly aware of something, the Federal Government held a press conference on February 13th, announcing the formation of a special investigative team to thoroughly investigate the series of attacks Erik Williams had experienced in this period.
On February 14th, the day of love and celebration for couples all over America, many couples in North America seemed to have gone out less to shop, go to bars, and watch movies. Many people pulled out their recorders from storage and after some tuning, found their desired channel. Of course, many people did not have recorders, so on this day, sales of recorders that were already in decline due to the popularity of the television, surged, with many stores completely sold out. After the event, the media counted incompletely, with the recorders sales totaling over 2.6 million, far surpa.s.sing the annual record of millions of televisions sold during the Super Bowl.
Back in Beverly Hills, Michael Eisner returned home after a busy day. Ever since Eric revealed the video, Michael Eisner had keenly realized that the series of actions taken by him and other movie tyc.o.o.ns against Eric over the past month would yield no fruit. Moreover, as the initiator and main executor of this incident, after the appearance of the demonstrators in major cities across the country to support Eric, Michael Eisner had to personally clear up the evidence of his previous actions and specially arrange for several newspapers to act as scapegoats for the federal government.
Michael Eisner sat on the living room sofa for a while, looking at his watch, before quietly instructing the servant to bring a radio and entering the study in silence.
At the same time, countless people across North America were doing the same thing before 8 o"clock in the evening.
At exactly 8 o"clock, the Federal Public Broadcasting Station"s music show officially began.
Hi everyone, this is your good friend, Matthew Lasell, and as a radio host, I can certainly a.s.sure you that today will be the most listened day of my professional career as everyone"s eyes turn to the TV screens. You may not know that in the past two hours since I started work, I have already listened to the same song over twenty times, and that kind of exciting shouting is probably the most inspiring melody I have ever heard in my life. Wow, my boss just gave me a thumbs up sign through the window, okay, so I"ll finish with one last sentence: This is Music Heaven from the Federal Public Broadcasting Radio, I"m your host Matthew Lasell and now let"s listen to the new song "New Divide" by the famous director Eric Williams.
The host"s voice fell and after a short silence, a distant drum sound was heard, followed by a series of rapid piano, drum and guitar sounds, the melody getting higher and higher, with an inexplicable shock of power. The prelude lasted for more than half a minute, and before the singing started, countless people in front of the radio felt a resonance and trembling from the depths of their souls.
Michael Eisner had not felt this feeling for a long time. Sitting in his study"s large armchair, his fingers on the desk started tapping unconsciously in time with the music from the radio, but soon stopped. Although there was n.o.body else in the room, Michael"s face still showed a hint of embarra.s.sment and awkwardness.
But the music from the radio didn"t change in reaction to Michael"s response and soon Eric"s voice came out of the radio.
I remembered black skies
The lightning all around me
I remembered each flash
As time began to blur
Like a startling sign
That fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve ... ...
you can listen to the song from here Eisner shifted in his chair, forcing a half-smile to his lips as he muttered, "Is this a complaint? How juvenile." Despite his words, Michael"s face no longer held a mocking expression. As the CEO of a movie company, he was aware that the spread of this rock song could give more power to the already-favored Eric. Thus, Michael began to subconsciously check if he had cleaned up everything and if there was any handle left in someone else"s hands. As a qualified businessman, after realizing that he should not have acted that way, Michael naturally felt that he should continue to cooperate with Eric, after all, interests were the first priority.
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