"It's a trap." Joseph couldn't believe it, his face stiffened, "And I stepped into it like this!" Joseph was blaming himself, he was blaming himself for his dereliction of duty, he didn't do his duty as an agent, not only did he not, but he also took the initiative to beat up the reporter. Although it is said that the tragedy of Hugo directly beating the reporter was avoided, for any artist, in fact, the agent is the community of interests with Hugo, which is inseparable. What's more, now Joseph is more like Hugo's manager, and the relationship is closer. So, Joseph beating a journalist, it's no different from Hugo beating a journalist, maybe the negative impact can be a little smaller, but not much smaller.

"Me too." Hugo looked at Joseph and spoke, which made Joseph stunned, "Remember? I swung my fist at the damn reporter, just one step slower than you!"

Joseph shook his head, hugged his head in annoyance, and whispered, "But I should have stopped you, and I should have kept calm." ”

"Joe, wake up, it's not your fault." Karl sat next to Joseph, and he quickly spoke to comfort him.

"yes, if it were me, I would have stepped forward and punched that damn bastard!" Alex chimed in. Charlize closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "You're not helping. Then Charlize looked at Joseph, "Joe, now is not the time to take responsibility for each other, no matter whose fault it is, it has happened, and we have to find a way to solve it." According to Hugo, apparently the journalist is crazy, and he just wants to change this news, and tomorrow the news about this will come in, and if we don't prepare, things will only get worse. Charlize used "we" instead of "you", Hugo noticed this detail, first with Meryl, Jack, Al and others comforting, and now there is a group of friends with the same hatred, which finally made Hugo feel a little more confident, maybe the entertainment industry is really sinister, things like Anthony will emerge endlessly, but at least he has this group of friends by his side.

"Of course, in fact, you and Hugo are not wrong at all, they were all planned by that damn 'bastard'." Charlize also muttered indignantly, although she has been keeping calm, but there is no way to forgive the reporter's nonsense after all. Hearing Charlize's muttering, although the atmosphere was tense at this time, the corners of Hugo's mouth couldn't help but rise.

"So, what should I do now?" Alex spoke, but received zero response, and everyone fell silent. Now everyone knows what Hugo and Joseph will be waiting for tomorrow, but no one knows if Anthony has any follow-up options in the future. To make matters worse, both Hugo and Joseph thought about whether Tracy and Lang would fall into the trap, or even more wondered if Anthony's provocation today would be the two of them behind him.

If you think about it carefully, Anthony's topic today is not made out of thin air, the first is awards, the second is big names, the third is plagiarism, and the fourth is Uma, any of these topics are nonsense out of nothing, but there is a source of undoubted belief in Anthony's mouth, so where is this source? Joseph's first reaction was to look up at Charlès, and sure enough, he saw Charlize's gaze fall on Uma, which made Joseph shift his gaze to Uma. In fact, the common denominator of these four topics today is Uma. As for the discussion of the award, Hugo has always been in Malibu, and there is no 'communication' with his friends, and even if there is, it is only Uma; Hugo's friends know about the big names, and naturally it also includes Uma; as for the plagiarism, it can be considered that Anthony has the intention to pour dirty water, after all, this is speculation without any source; and finally said that Uma took the throne through Hugo, which reminded Joseph Chinese New Year's Eve of the 'exchange' between Uma and Martin-Baum, and Uma also chose to stay in Sidney-Bo' Lac'...... What's more, Uma's appearance tonight is too strange, Joseph can't remember clearly during the whole confrontation before, but he remembers that when Hugo was 'talking' with Cheryl and Streep and others, Uma was standing two steps away from him, looking down uncertainly and thinking about something, Joseph originally thought that Uma was frightened, but he was worried about Hugo. But after that, Uma has been absent-minded, originally she was a person with a strong sense of zài, but after she returned, Uma almost disappeared, always staying in her own world.

Joseph let out a long breath, and he forced himself not to continue his thoughts. Because Joseph knew that this qiē was only speculation. Joseph knew that his speculation was also unfounded, just like Anthony's slander against Hugo, and it would be irresponsible for him to slander Uma if he said it casually. What's more, Joseph knew that Hugo believed in Uma, and Uma had no reason to harm Hugo. So, Joseph couldn't help but withdraw his gaze, and he and Charlize 'intertwined' their eyes, looked at each other, and then turned away from the other places.

In the silence, Karl's voice came, "Or, Tracy...... Or ...... Lang"

"No, of course not!" Hugo said categorically that he knew what Carl meant, and no matter who was behind this matter, or Tracy and Lang were not involved, in terms of connections alone, Tracy and Long had a great advantage, and they could help too much. But Hugo didn't mean to ask them for help at all, "I'd rather rely on my own ability to deal with it, no matter what the outcome is, I'm willing to accept it!"

Hearing Hugo's affirmative answer, Karl shrugged his shoulders and said nothing more. Hugo thought about it carefully, "It's not necessary to think about how things happened now, or what 'yin' schemes are waiting for us in the future. "Just now, Hugo's brain was also a 'chaos' and 'chaos', about Tracy, Lang, about Anthony, about the entertainment industry, about negative news, all kinds of ideas were 'intertwined' together, so that he had no way to sort out a clue, Hugo was convincing himself and everyone. At this moment, it is irrational to investigate the source of the clueless and the future without any sign at all, and the top priority is to deal with the 'chaos' and 'chaos' that will come tomorrow, and then the troops will block the water and cover the earth. After all, I'm in the open and in the dark, so that's all I can do.

"I want to ......" Hugo's voice regained a faint warmth, but more firm than usual, "I think we will take the initiative to admit our mistakes in front of the media and not entangle with them......"

"Why!" Alex directly interrupted Hugo's words, he felt that it was simply incomprehensible, "It's obviously that damn reporter who provoked you, it's obvious that he's constantly slandering you and insulting you, why should we admit our mistakes, why!" It's not fair!"

"Alex......" Hugo tried to say something, but Alex stood up impulsively and shouted angrily, "We should take the initiative to expose the disgusting behavior of that reporter, we must fight to the end, this is not allowed." He can insult you today, but he bows his head when he sees you, and everyone can insult you in the future, there is no end to this!"

No one stopped Alex, because everyone knew that Alex had a point, and even Hugo had no way to refute it.

"But we don't have proof." "We don't have any evidence that the journalist defamed me, it happened so quickly that no one could hear our conversation, and if he didn't provide this evidence, we would have no way to prove that he was deliberately provocative." ”

"And, when it comes to slander, you know, it's not an easy task." Hugo added. Defamation is a tricky offense in the United States. In the United States, which advocates freedom of speech, every citizen is free to express his or her own political opinions, and he can criticize the political government for its improper policies, even if your criticism lacks factual basis or is even completely untrue, the government will not sue you for slander. Purely theoretically, if you openly attack someone with false language, causing financial or reputational damage to the other person, it constitutes the crime of defamation, but the reality is far more complicated than that. In the United States, there are two kinds of people who are very difficult to sue for defamation if they are publicly reprimanded. One is a political servant, and the other is a celebrity. As a political servant, you must endure the pain of being scolded, and even if the other party's scolding is completely untrue, you cannot sue the other party for slander. As a celebrity, the same is true, because as a public figure, the parties can only endure the abuse of others, and if they sue others because they are scolded, they generally will not win.

In order to protect freedom of speech to the greatest extent, it is difficult for celebrities to win their lawsuits through legal means when they are attacked or even defamed. The biggest reason for this difficulty is that the coverage of celebrities is often a chase for the public's fundamental right to information and freedom of expression. Among the conditions for conviction for defamation, it is necessary to be able to prove "economic or reputational damage".

For example, if a person makes a rumor that the person has an infectious disease or bad habits, which has caused the person to lose a job position with an annual income of $100,000, then the person concerned has real evidence to sue him for defamation. In order to prove that they have suffered financial losses, they may have to disclose their personal income; In order to prove the loss of one's spirit, it may be necessary to disclose the cost of the person's medical 'medicine', and so on. If you don't want to make it public, or if you can't come up with real evidence, it's best not to slander others, otherwise you will be wasting your energy, time, and attorney fees.

And celebrities, it just so happens that they can't show real evidence in this regard. Because as a public figure, it is originally a profession under the spotlight, and most of the "slander" imposed on him is just one of the entertainment effects, and the harm caused cannot be proved at all. For example, if a public figure presents evidence that he has lost an interview opportunity because of slander, something as virtual as an "interview opportunity" cannot be used as evidence to be 'handed over'. Therefore, it is obviously not a wise move for public figures to use defamation against the media. Hugo, without a doubt, is one of the public figures. "Besides, even if we prove that he defamed, but the fact that we beat up the reporter is a fact, he has not only human evidence but also physical evidence, and his face is the best evidence, and I can even imagine that he deliberately appeared in front of the media with a face full of wounds." This is the fundamental reason why Hugo had the courage to admit his mistakes, because the facts cannot be changed, and the courage to take responsibility is the right choice rather than evading responsibility.

"I should have hit him." Joseph said in a low voice, although this was just an exclamation from him, but at this moment, there was an inexplicable sense of joy, which made several people present snort and couldn't help laughing. Hugo nodded even more, "Yes, you should have smashed your fist on him in places you can't see, like ribs or buttocks." ”