Jimmy Kimmel Ambushes Blogger

Jimmy Kimmel went on the attack against entertainment blogger Emily Gould, refusing to let her say more than one sentence at a time when he filled as host for Larry King Live on April 6.

The show seemed to be going in an innocent enough direction, discussing the extremes paparazzi will go to for their story, and bringing in guests representative of both sides of that debate. Then enter, via satellite feed, Gawker.com editor Emily Gould.

Immediately, one could sense that the mood of the program had changed. Jimmy Kimmel immediately went on the offensive against what is admitted by Gawker to be the most ridiculous feature of their site: the Gawker Stalker.

The Gawker Stalker allows anyone in New York City to report a celebrity sighting, sending in a message describing when and where they saw the celebrity, and how they were behaving. Apparently, a few months prior to the broadcast, Jimmy Kimmel was caught drunk, staggering out of a bar, and being belligerent towards fans trying to obtain an autograph, and Mr. Kimmel did not like the report.

Instead of focusing on the extremes the paparazzi go to for photographs, the five minute segment with Emily Gould was practically a bloodbath. For example, even after Emily Gould mentioned that the site normally took well over a day to post the celebrity sighting, more than enough time for that celebrity to have left, Jimmy Kimmel and his panel of experts insisted that she was lying and that the responses were posted immediately. They claimed that Emily Gould (who is not the founder or creative director of the site, just a paid editor) was looking forward to a lawsuit and was encouraging crazed fans to actually come in and attack celebrities. One expert went so far as to state that many celebrities are assaulted or even murdered each day and the media never mentions it. Kimmel went so far as to accuse Gould of profiting over the pain and suffering of celebrities through advertising, and would even claim that buying ads on a blog is "ridiculous". It is apparent, however, when visiting many popular blogs that Mr. Kimmel himself and his network constantly purchase such advertisements to promote his late night talk show.

Eventually, Jimmy Kimmel would mention his grievance about appearing on the Gawker Stalker, and claim that it was offensive to his family who visited the site. Instead of providing an objective debate on a very current and relevant subject, Jimmy Kimmel used his appearance on Larry King Live as an opportunity to advance his own personal vendetta against the blogosphere and damage the reputation of one well respected author.

While Kimmel may feel that he had the chance to get back at the big bad bloggers, his behavior on the show may have actually hurt his case. As Gould would state on the show, blogs are almost a form of citizen journalism, but like the weekly tabloids at the supermarket, you can't expect a one hundred percent accurate report. People have been given the opportunity and tools to realize that just because a person is on TV does not mean that they are a better human being.