Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Holy cow! Did you hear the news? Those nude photos of that High School Musical chick Vanessa Hudgens (pictured, left, in HSM 2) that were floating around the Internet yesterday — they’re for real!
Slezak: I did indeed. The poor kid is only 18. I feel really bad for her.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Yeah, but doesn’t the whole thing make you a little suspicious?
Slezak: How so?
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Like, what if she leaked the photos herself?
Slezak: Inner cynic! You are officially not a good person.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Oh come on, Pollyanna, think about it: High School Musical is the biggest thing happening on TV and the Billboard charts these days, but practically nobody over the age of 15 has watched it. If girlfriend wants to take her fame to the next level, what better way than through a naked-photo scandal? I mean, that Efron kid already bared his abs on the cover of Rolling Stone!
Slezak: But Hudgens doesn’t need the publicity. Why would she do anything that could alienate her tweener audience?
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: You want to appeal to adults, you have to prove you’re an adult yourself.
Slezak: You better settle down, Inner Cynic, or I’m not letting you watch anything on E! this weekend. It’ll be all PBS, all the time.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Okay, okay. You’re right. It was probably somebody from Vanessa’s management or publicity team who leaked the photos.
Slezak: We’re not having this conversation.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: You think Zac Efron did it? So maybe those Perez Hilton types will stop questioning his sexual orientation?
Slezak: You want to start with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, tomorrow morning at 10:30? Or are you going to get up earlier and go for a run?
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: All right, I can take a hint.
Slezak: Too late, betch. We’re gonna ride the Public Broadcasting Express all the way to Lidia’s Italy on Sunday afternoon. Then you’re going to bed — at 6 p.m.!
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Come on! I’ll be good! I promise. I really wanted to see that randy new series that premieres on HBO Sunday night.
Slezak: Not gonna happen.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: But it’s got that lady from Profiler! She’s my favorite!
Slezak:Well, maybe next time you’ll think long and hard before you’re about todisparage the reputation of one of the Disney Channel’s apple-cheekedheroines.
Slezak’s Inner Cynic: Seriously? You’re worse than Mommie Dearest. I’m going to get a beer with Annie Barrett. She’s way more fun than you.
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I bet someone from her camp leaked them, only because they didn’t deny that it was her.
I *love* the Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly reference. I’ve often stumbled over that show and seen something interesting. Not exactly appointment television, but very well produced.
More Slezak! Its like Friday Happy Hour now that he’s back.
Kinda disturbing to learn that the pics were real, because like Inner Slezak says, could be a VERY real possibility that if not herself, someone from her camp leaked those photos to appeal to male adults that re well beyond the HSM audience. I mean, SERIOUSLY, when she put her album out last year, after “Come Back To Me” looked like it was going to be a huge hit, it kinda fizzled out, and her record label didn’t even try and work anything other than that “OK” song, which was anything but!!! So yeah, perhaps, in some truly cruel way, her camp thought this would be the most ideal situation for her to move into a wider demo appeal. I hope she’s comfortable with her own skin. DISNEY MUST BE THRILLED!
The reputation of one of the Disney Channel’s apple-cheeked heroines? Like, say, Britney (ex-Mousketeer) and Lindsay (previous Disney go-to gal)?
Me, I’m starting to wonder about Disney…
whatever was the cause of this, um, publicity stunt, i’m now going to watch the show…
There is just something about her and zefron that just creeps me out. I hope they fade away quickly.
They were leaked…maybe she wants out of her Disney contract, who knows?
If it’s a publicity stunt, it seems poorly timed. Unless it’s announced in the next few days or weeks that she’s been cast in some edgy indie film role. Otherwise, I think the most likely scenario is someone untrustworthy – a frenemy, Efron himself, or a friend of Efron’s – got a hold of the photos and allowed them to go viral.
inner-emily thought the same thing. she totally leaked them herself. i think we (the savy ones, at least) smell a rat ’cause she clearly will do anything for publicity – like say fake date a clearly homosexual male! selling your soul to be famous… yuck.
Someone wants out of her contract with the House of Mouse. This is very similar to the stunt Jessica Biel pulled when she wanted out of 7th Heaven.
better than those pics of Hannah Montana!
Yeah, at first I thought that it was a complete accident. But then her people confirmed it was her and I became almost certain it was on purpose.
My thinking: unless she has really crappy PR people, they would have let everyone talk about it today because a case could be made for it being someone else. So they could have let everyone talk about it and then announce Saturday that it was her, when no one would have paid any attention to it and everyone would have forgotten by Monday.
But instead they went ahead and said it was her. So she either has bad PR people or it was on purpose.
I thought the exact same thing when I heard the news… after everyone’s sex tape dramas, celebs know better than that by now.
I idly wondered if something was not going so well between Zac Efron and her and either he leaked them or someone not liking them both leaked the pics…
i thought the same thing as well. i find it funny how some celebs find themsleves no longer on the A-list. A sex tape or photos are accidentally leaked to the press.
I *knew* the pictures were real. Even when Perez Hilton said they weren’t and before the publicist said so.
Small comfort: At least she looked hot in them.
I can’t believe Vanessa is behind this in any way. If she had wanted to change her image or get out of her contract with Disney, why get naked for free? The simplest explanation is probably the correct one: Zac got too careless, and someone stole his pics.
I had no idea who any of these people were 2 weeks ago and I was happy. Damn you, Disney. Damn you straight to hell!
While she is not the best actress in the world, her protrayal of Gabriella Montez is pretty good. She is like the cute little sister you want to protect. Everyone does foul things from time to time that they regret. I hope her lesson is learned here. My little nieces who are 6 and 10 adore “Gabriella” and they will NEVER find out about this ever. So I don’t think Disney should panic. The target audience for HSM is not on gossip blogs looking at her nude pics. They wont know a thing. This was a mistake, and it’s a bad one, but Disney would be stupid to replace her in part 3. For one she has the best female voice in the cast.
What contract? She’s not under contract for anything as of right now. She did HSM2 and it’s done. She was in the middle of negotiating a contract for HSM3. And she and Efron were holding out. Don’t be surprised if someone at Disney involved with the contract negotiations did this to get even.
I think Disney leaked the photos so her reputation will be tarnished enough so she can’t drive up her asking price on HSM 3. My inner cynic rocks.
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And that ain’t saying much
Why can’t anyone in Hollywood keep their clothes on in the first place? I’m sick of all the nudity.
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And that ain’t saying much
“…but practically nobody over the age of 15 has watched it.”
There’s something to be said for that. Until today I had never heard of High School Musical, although I am regular reader of EW and obviously read about it and then forgot about it, repeatedly.
I vaguely recollect hearing about “Zac and Vanessa” in the tabloid gossip, but I thought it had something to do with Nick and Jessica.
Until today. Now I know, and I am pretty sure I’m not going to forget who these people are this time.
This is my conspiracy theory. Disney is in contract negotiations for the next film. I think they want to bump her out and replace her with someone else for Zac to make more money and have a higher profile. But the tweens love her so much and would revolt! So I think Disney sneakily did this to tarnish her image among tweens and parents and put someone new in her place. BTW: I *heart* you Michael!
I don’t care who leaked them…all I can say is “thank you!”
you suck You look ugly#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Why else would her people have confirmed the photo unless they leaked it? It would have been easier to say nothing about it & let most people think it was someone else. But talk about cynical–what kind of worldview do you have, if you think naked pix will help you be taken seriously? Seriously.