 "Photo: Courtesy of Google.com")
 "Photo: Courtesy of Google.com")
Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez, more commonly known as Octomom, gained attention after giving birth last January to the second full set of octuplets born alive in the U.S. By the octuplets’ one week birthday, they had surpassed the international survival rate for a complete set of octuplets. However, the positive media attention slowly began to wane as the public realized the single unemployed mother had six other young children — from previous in vitro fertilization treatments — already at home.
After IVF treatments from her first five pregnancies, Suleman had six embryos remaining. She asked Dr. Michael Kamrava, a fertility specialist, to implant her with all six, two of which split into twins, leaving her with eight embryos. Dr. Kamrava had received public scrutiny for his decision to implant her with all six embryos. The norm for women under 35 is to implant only two to three embryos, reducing the risk of multiple births.
The public has also been a harsh critic of Suleman, questioning her decision to have the octuplets, which has resulted in protests outside of her home and even death threats.
Over the past year, Suleman has also sought a trademark for her “Octomom” nickname for a line of diapers and children’s clothing. There is even an Octomom game for the iPhone. And, Suleman was also offered a $1 million contract with Vivid entertainment to produce an X-rated film, although she declined.
Suleman has been interviewed by Ann Curry and has appeared on the Dr. Phil Show. More recently, Suleman told Matt Lauer, on NBC’s “People of the Year,” that she is open to the idea of having more children.
As Taylor Swift accepted the first award of the night at the MTV Video Music Awards, Best Female Video, for her hit “You Belong with Me,” Kanye West jumped on stage, grabbed the mic from Swift and declared that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time for her song “Single Ladies.” Probably expecting applause from fans agreeing with his opinion, West instead received a stunned look from Beyoncé, shocked looks and “boos” from the crowd. After West left the stage, a stunned Swift walked off as the audience cheered her on.
West posted two apologies for his outburst on his blog, apologized on “The Jay Leno Show” and called Swift personally to apologize. Although Swift has forgiven him, it looks like West’s temper won’t soon be forgotten, as the clip from the VMAs now has a permanent home on YouTube.
Also this year, West was sentenced to serve 50 hours of community service to dismiss battery and vandalism charges he faced after he and his manager smashed two photographers’ cameras at the Los Angeles Airport last September.
Glenn Beck, an American radio and television host, political commentator and author, has had his fair share of attention over the past few years. However, 2009 was a new record for Beck. Since his start in the business, he has become a well-known figure in the media with his television show on Fox News and his nationally-ranked radio program. Although his work has been gaining him popularity, it has also been highly criticized for its right-wing views and outlandish comments.
Beck is criticized because he is set in his conservative ways and is not afraid to show it. This year, Beck even insisted that Obama himself is racist, saying that he has a deep-seated hatred for white people. Because of his comments, many advertisers requested that their ads be removed from his programming to disaffiliate their association with Beck.
In 2009, Beck accused Van Jone, a member of the Obama administration, of being involved with a communist non-governmental group. Beck’s comments led Jones to resign from his position in the administration.
Also in 2009, Beck became critical of the ACORN for claims of voter fraud in the last election, among other things. Because Beck played two damaging videos of the organization, the Census Bureau cut ties with ACORN and the House and Senate ceased giving federal funding to the organization.
More recently, Beck has taken his New York Times best selling book, The Christmas Sweater, and put it in front of a live audience.
In September, Beck took the top seat in the media by being featured on the cover of Time magazine, which had a piece focusing on his political rants.
Chris Brown and Rihanna always seemed like the perfect R&B couple until the early in the morning on Feb. 8. Brown and Rihanna started to argue while in a car. After the car stopped, Brown and Rihanna got out and the argument escalated. Rihanna was left brutally beaten and scarred. Early on Feb. 9, Brown was arrested and charged with making criminal threats to Rihanna and was released on bail.
Pictures of the beaten Rihanna’s face, with bruises and welts above her eyebrows and on her cheeks, started leaking on the Internet and speculations about Brown began to circulate.
Both Rihanna and Brown were not present at the Grammy’s held that day, even though they were scheduled to perform.
The following Sunday, Brown issued a statement of apology, but since the attacks, he has been continuously scrutinized and has even been removed from the ad campaigns he was featured in. Rihanna remained silent about the attacks until her first television interview with Diane Sawyer on Nov. 3, in which she said she wanted to speak out so her and her fans could move on from the attack.
Although Brown has issued apologies and taken responsibility for the attack, and although the two have been spotted together after the incident, Brown’s songs will never be heard the same way again.
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