Morning Report - News from Aug. 22, 2002

MOVIES

Street People Want

a Piece of the Action

In a new twist on the problem of runaway production, Canadian drug addicts, hookers and panhandlers are demanding compensation for the business lost when Hollywood filmmakers take over their streets.

According to Variety, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, representing about 1,000 inhabitants of a seedy downtown neighborhood of the city, has sent a letter with their demands to about 30 production companies, including Club Six Productions, which is there now filming MGM’s “Agent Cody Banks,” with Frankie Muniz and Angie Harmon.

“Sex trade workers must be compensated for displacement they experience at your hands in the same manner you would compensate a business if you were to use their locale during operating hours,” it read. “The same must hold true for homeless people you push from beneath a bridge or doorway, and drug users you move from a park.”

The Vancouver Sun published an editorial backing the campaign, which seeks alternative accommodations for displaced people and compensation for disrupted work.

MGM had no comment.

POP/ROCK

Petition Criticizes Giving Award to Ashanti

More than 20,000 signatures have been gathered on an Internet petition criticizing a decision by “Soul Train” to give 21-year-old R&B; newcomer Ashanti its coveted Aretha Franklin Award as entertainer of the year.

Ashanti, who sold more than 2.3 million copies of her self-titled debut album, will receive the honor at the eighth annual Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday. Previous winners include Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey.

“It is an insult to other entertainers who are more deserving of this award,” read the petition, posted on PetitionOnline.com on July 31. “Ashanti simply lacks singing ability and stage presence.”

The author? Rommel Zamora, a California high school student who launched the statement out of boredom, Eonline reports. But when media outlets got wind of the campaign, the petition took on a life of its own.

“Soul Train” officials didn’t take kindly to the criticism, firing back with disparaging remarks about Zamora and his supporters on its Web site.

“This is patriarchal nonsense that offends me more than you can imagine,” Don Cornelius, creator and executive producer of the “Soul Train” franchise, said in an interview Wednesday.

“After 30 years in the business, I should be told by a 15-year-old white kid who should get an award on my show? Anyone who instigated those ugly and disparaging remarks against Ashanti is fostering black-on-black hatred. It just happened that a number of people with modems and computers took the opportunity to jump on.”

Ashanti’s camp had no comment.

QUICK TAKES

‘N Sync’s Justin Timberlake will give his first solo live performance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 29.... Fox’s “American Idol” delivered its largest audience yet on Tuesday, up roughly 20% from the previous week to just over 15 million viewers.... “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl will also anchor CBS’ “48 Hours Investigates,” a revamped version of “48 Hours,” premiering at 8 p.m. on Sept. 27. Dan Rather, who previously hosted the news series, will devote more time to the evening news and “60 Minutes II.”