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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 10
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Boortz producer getting Web heat over Crocs suit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Usually, it’s “Neal Boortz Show” executive producer Belinda Skelton’s boss who is the target of angry blog comments. But the poison keyboards turned on the Atlanta mom Wednesday after the media began reporting on her family’s lawsuit against Crocs footwear filed in U.S. District Court. The suit filed by Skelton’s husband, Clark Meyer, is asking for $2 million after the couple’s 4-year-old son (shown below) was injured last month at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when the popular plastic footwear he was wearing got caught in a moving escalator.
Multiple toes were broken on their son’s right foot and his big toe came “within millimeters” of being lost.
On Wednesday, angry commenters at wsbradio.com posted some unkind things about Skelton and questioned her parenting skills.
Wrote a blog commenter who identified himself as “Ted”: “Crocs are not shoes. They’re [junk] your kids scream for.” Added a blogger identifying himself as “Randy”: “Gee, do you think two million is enough? You are a real piece of work.”
But Boortz listener “Melanie R” defended Skelton on the Web site, posting: “Belinda: I think you are strong for acting out to protect kids.”
Skelton conceded that she was avoiding the message boards Wednesday. “It’s days like this when you find out who your friends are,” she told Buzz with a sigh. Skelton said money was not a factor in filing the suit.
“We struggled, and we prayed over this,” she said. “But we felt that someone had to force Crocs to do the right thing. We want a warning tag on those shoes.”
Skelton said her 4-year-old won’t discuss last month’s incident and can’t curl his toes.
“It was the most traumatic thing I’ve ever been through as a parent,” she said. “If some of these bloggers had to lie next to my son at night and listen as he has nightmares, maybe they would feel differently. My husband and I are struggling a lot right now.”
Still, Skelton has the support of her boss when she goes to work each weekday.
Said Skelton: “Neal is like my big brother. He can beat up on me, but God help anyone else who tries it!”
Skelton works for WSB Radio, a station owned by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s parent company, Cox Enterprises Inc.
In an e-mail to Buzz Wednesday, Crocs spokeswoman Tia Mattson told us the company “does not comment on litigation.”
You can comment on the radio/tv blog here.
BY THE NUMBERS
Locally, Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox drew more viewers than supermodel Kathy Ireland last Friday on Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a 5th-Grader?” Cox’s $1 million victory at 9 p.m. was the top nonsports program last week with 312,000 viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, compared to 226,000 viewers for Ireland’s portion at 8 p.m.
The Jeff Foxworthy-hosted quiz show finished in 14th place nationwide with a respectable 8.6 million viewers.
The MTV Video Music Awards, which featured a live video by Atlanta’s T.I., ranked 15th in Atlanta with 204,000 viewers and 16th nationally with 8.2 million, the program’s best showing in years.
STORK REPORT
People.com is reporting that Atlanta R&B superstar Usher Raymond and his bride of 13 months, Tameka, are expecting their second child.
“A source close to the singer,” the site says, confirmed the news. That unidentified source added that Mrs. Raymond “was spotted wearing a belly-disguising outfit during Usher’s Sept. 4 NFL kickoff concert in New York. The dress was ‘very deceiving.’ … ‘You couldn’t tell she was pregnant when she was sitting down’. “
Raymond’s record label publicists have yet to address numerous inquiries about their pregnancy; and the couple’s recent publicist on more personal matters said she no longer represents them.
The Raymonds had their first child, Usher Raymond V — whom they call Cinco — on Nov. 26, 2007.
Joked the singer to the AJC after the first birth: “My wife is very fertile. I think she wouldn’t mind having another one right now!”
‘FACE TO FACE’ WITH FALCONS’ TURNER
Impressed Atlanta Falcons fans who cheered on Michael Turner as he set a new single-game rushing record (220 yards on 22 carries) during last Sunday’s game at the Georgia Dome may want to head to Buckhead Thursday night. Turner will be the guest of honor tonight at ESPN Zone as he’s interviewed for a taping of WXIA’s “Falcons Face-to-Face” pregame show. We’re told the taping will begin at 7:30 p.m. The taping is open to the public, and Falcons fans will have an opportunity to score Falcons tickets and gear, along with autographs from Turner.
RAMSEY: ‘I FORGIVE THE MEDIA’
Former Atlantan John Ramsey says he has forgiven the news media for the “cyberspace lynching” he and his wife Patsy endured until prosecutors cleared them in the 1996 killing of their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet.
Ramsey appeared on an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” broadcast Wednesday.
He said he considers new DNA tests that point to an outsider to be progress in the case.
The interview was Ramsey’s first national TV appearance since prosecutors cleared his family in July. Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Movie director Brian De Palma is 68. Drummer Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead is 65. Musician Moby is 43. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 41. Guitarist Jon Buckland of Coldplay is 31. Rapper Ludacris is 31. Singer Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum is 27.
Contributing: Sonia Murray, Rodney Ho and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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After Games, Taylor’s had busy schedule
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Angelo Taylor was back in town sporting some serious bling on Tuesday — the two gold medals he won last month in Beijing. Despite his triumph at the Summer Olympics — the 29-year-old took gold in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and as a member of the 1,600-meter relay team — he says he has room for progress.
“I had a great race,” said Taylor, who spoke to reporters at Georgia Tech, which he attended and where he trained for the 2008 Games. “There are some things I can improve on.”
He didn’t get to do much sightseeing in Beijing, but gives high marks to the Olympic Village, where most athletes lived during the Games.
“It was a very comfortable living situation,” he said. “The food was actually good. We had 24-hour McDonald’s.”
(Buzz item within an item: He ran into former Tech standout Chris Bosh and former Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy star Dwight Howard, who won gold medals as members of the U.S. men’s basketball team, under the Golden Arches.)
Taylor hasn’t been home much since the Games ended. He had some meets in Europe, then took a trip to New York, where he visited the Friars Club, stopped by BET’s 106 & Park and got to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. He’s off again for some meets in Stuttgart, Germany, and then back home this month.
Asked if he plans any appearances in metro Atlanta, he said, “We have some things lined up.”
Taylor, of Decatur, won his first gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He made the 2004 team but, hampered by injury, did not reach the finals. He has his sights set on the 2012 Games in London.
“I’m just going to run until the wheels fall off,” he said.
By the way, Taylor’s 3-year-old sons, Xavier and Isaiah, don’t really understand what the shiny medals around their dad’s neck signify, but they must look like really cool toys.
“They were grabbing on them. They wanted to swing around my neck,” Taylor said. “I was like, you can’t do that! I think I will leave them in a safety lock box.”
The medals, that is. Not the twins.
MORE NEWS WITH A SPORTS BENT
Atlanta tennis player Donald Young is back from the U.S. Open in time for Sunset Showtime, a charity event benefiting the Atlanta Youth Tennis Foundation and the Youngs’ Tennis in Motion Academy. Young will play an exhibition match against John Isner before a screening of “Unstrung,” an ESPN-produced documentary centered on the U.S. Hardcourts Championship. Young is featured in the film. The event starts at 6 p.m.; tickets, including food and beverages, are $100. Info: 239-593-3900. … Former Atlanta Falcon Warrick Dunn will host his sixth annual gala benefiting the Warrick Dunn Foundation at 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Westin in Buckhead. Dunn and former and current NFL players always thrill the crowd as they take turns down the catwalk at this fun celeb fashion show. The event also features live and silent auction items, including a Super Bowl XLII package. The cost is $175 per ticket. Info: www.warrickdunnfoundation.org.
MOTORCYCLE: 1. LION: 1. SNAKE: 1. DJ: 0.
Over the years, country DJ Moby has been in a motorcycle accident and bitten (literally) by a lion. Now he’s in a north Fulton County hospital for a snakebite.
The “yeah baby!” host now heard on South 107, WNGC-FM and 92.5/the Bear thought it was wise to try to catch a copperhead snake in his driveway Monday. He did nab it, but it also nipped him on the right forefinger, forcing him to get anti-venom treatment.
“It big time swelled up,” he told Buzz on Tuesday, while still in the hospital. “It turned red and black and flesh sloughed off around the wound. It’s nasty!”
Good news: Moby, whose real name is James Carney, may have lost a bit of his dignity but won’t lose his finger.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Country singer Tommy Overstreet is 71. Actor Greg Mullavey (“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”) is 69. Jazz vibrophonist Roy Ayers is 68. Singer Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night is 66. Singer Jose Feliciano is 63. Actor Tom Ligon (“Oz,” “Another World”) is 63. Actress Judy Geeson (“Mad About You”) is 60. Guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith is 58. Actress Amy Irving is 55. Director Chris Columbus is 50. Actor Colin Firth is 48. Singer-guitarist David Lowery of Cracker is 48. Guitarist Stevie D. of Buckcherry is 42. Drummer Robin Goodridge of Bush is 42. Singer-guitarist Miles Zuniga of Fastball is 42. Rapper Big Daddy Kane is 40. Director Guy Ritchie is 40. Actor Ryan Phillippe is 34. Bassist Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance) is 28.
ATLANTA’S OWN
October’s Vanity Fair magazine features mini-profiles on people it has declared the 100 leaders of the information age (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tops the list, followed by media mogul Rupert Murdoch). CNN’s Anderson Cooper (right), whom VF calls “among the best journalists on TV,” and actor-filmmaker Tyler Perry, whom the mag says has “found a fanatical following among the underserved demographic of older, churchgoing African-Americans,” were included in a list of “nexters,” a complement of up-and-comers.
Contributing: Rodney Ho and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
