04/10/01: Julia Loses Oscar?!

[Freakapotimus]

Julia Loses Oscar?!

Are we hearing this right: Tinseltown's golden girl finally wins an Oscar, then the Academy demands she give it back?
Well that's exactly what happened to Julia Roberts. Or rather, her wax doppelganger.

Those trademark-happy folks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences sent a letter to the Hollywood Wax Museum demanding it remove a fake statuette from the pretty woman's wax figure.

Museum staffers had put a cheap Oscar imitation, purchased from a nearby souvenir shop, in the arms of Roberts' replica just two days before the actress won the Academy Award for her star turn in Erin Brockovich.

Nonetheless, the image-conscious Academy folks didn't take too kindly to the wax woman's new accessory and immediately fired off a cease-and-desist letter ordering the removal of the offending Oscar.

The Academy vigorously protects the little sword-wielding man and requires the appropriate registration mark (®) on all authorized uses of the symbol, including movie posters, video packaging, Academy sanctioned Oscar-night charity balls, Pepsi cup collectibles at your local megaplex (we're not making this up) and anytime the word "Oscar" is mentioned outside a news report. (This writer's two cents: Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!)

"The statuette is our copyrighted property, and it is not something available for use in any context that somebody else might think to use it in," says Academy rep Leslie Unger.

Facing a legal firestorm, museum officials say they have abided by the Academy's request and taken down the ersatz golden guy. "We have complied," says museum spokesman John Blanchette. "But we felt bullied...

"And the wax figure isn't happy either."

[DeadPresident]

Just testing my Sig out :)

[DeadPresident]

oops.. completely phucked it up.. try again