Protesters gathered outside of Angelina Jolie’s hospital in Nice Monday night to decry the intense media focus on the couple and their new babies. They were incensed by mayor Christian Estrosi’s effusive praise for Brad and Angelina in light of his lack of response to the recent murder of a young man. The family is trying to get the remains of the victim released in time to have a traditional Islamic funeral, which dictates that burial rites take place as soon as possible.
It’s a conflict as old as the media - why do we give so much coverage to celebrities when there are people dying and starving in the world? It’s particularly painful for this young man’s family, who have to see the story of their murdered son, brother and cousin quickly fade from the headlines and aren’t even given his body to bury while it’s big news that Angelina gave birth there.
They probably can’t even get a meeting with the mayor and while they were desperately trying to plead for their dead relative’s body Estrosi went on TV holding Knox’s birth certificate and talking about how proud he was that Brangelina picked Nice. As someone who works to bring attention to the plight of refugees and children of war, Angelina probably empathizes with the protesters. She thought she picked a nice safe place to give birth, but there’s no escaping controversy when you’re that famous. Maybe the mayor will think twice about snubbing victim’s families now that these people were able to get some attention for their cause.
Update: I have no idea if the mayor specifically snubbed this family or didn’t meet with them, and I overstated that in order to make the title short and make a point. From the Access Hollywood report above, and on reports from X17 photographers, the protesters wanted attention to their cause which received little or no media coverage especially compared to the Brangelina twins. They were especially incensed that the mayor put so much focus on the celebrity story while they were anxiously trying to get the stabbing victim’s body released for burial.
Thanks to BreitBart for the video and to Megan for the tip.