Did you notice how carefully the Star-Advertiser avoided saying that a Hawaii Five-0 actor is going into a treatment program for prescription drug addiction.
The headline on the Star-Advertiser story today: “‘Five-0′ star taking time off for health.” Like he’s just overworked and needs a rest. Then there’s a guarded reference to “problems with pain medication,” sounding like perhaps there a problems prescribing the correct dosage or something.
The terms “addiction” or “addicted” don’t appear anywhere in the story. Nothing about drug abuse.
But lots of space for fans’ reactions.
Hawaii News Now, on the other hand, did much better: “Hawaii Five-0’s Alex O’Loughlin in treatment for prescription drugs.”
O’Loughlin’s publicist Jodi Gottlieb released a statement, which said, “Alex is taking a short break from Hawaii Five-0 to receive supervised treatment for prescription pain medication due to a recent shoulder injury.”
A little confusing there, and I think it was designed to leave people with the impression that he’s being treated for the shoulder injury.
But the story by Ben Gutierrez gets down to business and addresses the addiction issue directly.
Addiction to prescription drugs isn’t a problem just for television stars. “Prescription drugs aren’t as sexy as hearing about meth or ice or marijuana, but they are the most dangerous problem we’re facing right now,” said Robert Saenz, president of VIP consulting and a nationally recognized expert on drug misuse and addiction.
Several paragraphs are devoted to the problem of addiction.
So Hawaii News Now did it right, the Star-Advertiser, not so much.
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I was amazed at the extreme delicacy, even fawning, that the SA went to in reporting this story. Man, talk about PR spin! I haven’t seen such pussyfooting since Don Horner tried to explain that Ansaldo was a rock of financial stability.
Still, best wishes to the young man for a successful and permanent rehab.
Ian , no one has had actually said what the problem is. Sure there is PR spin. But your own headline using the words “drug addiction” does the same thing you are accusing others of doing.
Yes, lots of pussy-footing on reporting that a TV star is undergoing treatment for addiction to prescription drugs. Maybe the pussy-footing is understandable because Hawaii 5-0 has a huge audience and is part of the PR hype for getting tourists to come to Hawaii. But consider the case of surfer Andy Irons. He was using illegal recreational drugs, not prescription pain medication; and the release of the autopsy results was delayed on more than one occasion, for a total of about six months. Wat up wit dat!
Ken, please drop the Pidgin and slowly back away.
I don’t see much pidgin in Ken’s post, but regardless of that: Do you demand that everyone refrain from using pidgin, or just people with whom you generally disagree? Or it is a racial thing?
Obviously, the sensitivity is because of the stigma attached to drug abuse. No great mystery there. Nor am I prepared to say someone’s drug problems are the public’s business. Why is he not entitled to his privacy?
On the other hand, it maybe tough to de-stigmatize drug abuse unless we are more open about the problems. Alex O’Loughlin appears to be broadly liked, so his problems may help a sympathetic public get a better sense that good people can have drug problems. Better we should learn now, than after he, or some other celebrity, dies.
I am not a big fan of the show. But I think Alex exudes charisma, intelligence and a boyish charm and I wish him well.
Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is a complete hypocrite, blowhard and, apparently, criminal, who gets absolutely no sympathy from me.
forever amusing how a well-known public figure suddenly deserves “privacy” when they totally screw up and many people already know it!! very much like a parent defaulting to aggressive-denial when someone tells them their child is misbehaving in school.
Not sure what makes it “amusing” to you. But I guess different people find humor in different things.
I find it uncomfortable talking about such things in public and think that mixed response is a very reasonable one. Just because someone works in front of a camera to earn a living does not entitled the rest of us to pry into their personal lives. Celebrities are entitled to a zone of privacy, in my opinion.
I recognize fans tend to befriend them as part of the “willful suspension of disbelief” involved while watching a movie or TV show. But that illusion does not, in my mind, justify confusion over over the biblical admonition, “Mind your own business.”
And the trove of events involving celebrities who beg and shout for publicity but beg and scream for privacy when they screw up and people find out, does not, in my mind, justify confusion over over the realistic admonition, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
In what way did the actor “screw up”? And how does having a medical problem make someone stupid?
His medical concerns are none of your damn business, regardless of how much pleasure you get from gossiping about them.
if i pay for American health costs through insurance, yes, it is my business. but trying shouting a little louder to see if it boosts your opinion, as opposed to relying on thought and logic.
I don’t recall Alex O’Loughlin shouting or begging for publicity. He seems fairly private to me and almost reluctant to do lots of interviews and celeb things. He doesn’t go to many events and seems to keep himself to himself. He’s hardly Kim Kardashian.
I think reality tv and ‘celebs’ like the Kardashians have made it harder for working actors, songwriters and singers etc. If you are an actor yes you have to do a certain amount of publicity for the projects you are involved in but if you’re not someone who makes a living by making their life an open book then you absolutely deserve some privacy.
How did he screw up? We don’t know what has gone on, none of us. And if he did become addicted to pain meds then he’s joined millions of others world wide who’ve fallen foul of these types of medication. They are highly addictive. Unfortunately they are also the only thing that can deal with really high levels of pain.
these drug-addicted celebs are “victims”? no way.
in some ways, however, their worst addiction is image control: they want to look like princes on tv, and their supporters freak out when, well, they no longer do. this has happened pretty much since TV was invented. it’s called denial. the “victim” approach has done little to resolve human tendency toward addiction, which is ultimately someone’s choice. but feel free to haggle over a brilliant statement from a wise Forrest Gump: stupid is as stupid does.
You can’t trust what you read or hear in the media any more. Some Olelo television programs have more meat.
The paper used an AP story. Maybe its local film reporter was off our on vacation. Or was that to avoid being “offed” from set coverage? Five-O has been notorious about limiting coverage to good stuff. Not allowed: O’Laughlin’s big body tattoo. Not allowed: anyone’s family connections.
Please do see my MidWeek column this Monday, written before the O’Laughlin matter.
Isn’t it curious how prescription drug addiction can apparently be ameliorated via treatment and “time off”, yet illegal recreational drug use can only be dealt with via a trip to the slammer? The Drug Warriors certainly move in mysterious ways.
Maybe it’s just another example of our non-use of taboo words and expressions?
Like not using “depression” for post 1930’s economic tragedies, such as we’re in the “Great Recession” now, no not such as “Depression II.”
This would place the StarBad in the realm of cowardice, not necessarily lazy or incompetence.
Anyway, I wish the best for the Hawaii 5-O, including it’s Aussie star, who, as David Letterman might suggest, is takin’ away an American from work!
Most importantly Alex admitted to having a problem and got the help he needed, for the sake of Malia and their babies. The rest is irrelevant and not the business of the pubic. Good on you Alex. ?