Monday, February 23, 2009
Vietnam veterans protest Fonda’s Broadway showing
NEW YORK — It’s been decades, but Jane Fonda still can’t shake her “Hanoi Jane” image from the Vietnam War.
About a dozen Vietnam veterans and other protesters picketed the theater Saturday where the 71-year-old actress is starring in the Broadway play “33 Variations,” telling passers-by that she had once visited their communist enemy in Hanoi.
“Jane Fonda is a traitor,” said Dan Maloney of the Gathering of Eagles, which bills itself as a national, nonpartisan veterans group. “She got on Hanoi radio and called every U.S. serviceman a war criminal.”
Fonda was tagged with the sobriquet “Hanoi Jane” after visiting the North Vietnamese capital in 1972, where she made radio broadcasts critical of U.S. policy and sat on an anti-aircraft gun laughing and clapping, as she describes in her autobiography, “My Life So Far.”
Though she still defends her anti-war activism, Fonda has acknowledged that the incident was “a betrayal” of American forces.
Batali is profane at dinner with Spain’s royalty
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The king and queen of Spain got a dash of profanity from celebrity chef Mario Batali at a $1,000-a-plate dinner during the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
At a Thursday dinner honoring Spain’s growing international culinary presence, Batali dropped some royally naughty words as he hosted the event in the presence of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
Growing impatient when the crowd didn’t quiet down quickly enough after he stepped to the microphone, he used the f-word and asked the audience if he could have “10 seconds of your time.”
Batali dropped the f-bomb again while introducing chef Jose Andres, whose Los Angeles restaurant, The Bazaar, has been heralded by critics. He finished by grabbing Andres’ bottom. Those seated near the royal couple said the queen blanched.
Today’s birthdays
Country songwriter Bob Willis is 75. Actor-director Peter Fonda is 69. Musician Johnny Winter is 65. Steel guitarist Rusty Young of Poco is 63. Actress Patricia Richardson (“Home Improvement”) is 58. Guitarist Brad Whitford of Aerosmith is 57. Singer Howard Jones is 54. Guitarist Michael Wilton of Queensryche is 47. Actress Kristin Davis (“Sex and the City”) is 44. Actor Marc Price (“Family Ties”) is 41. Actress Niecy Nash (“Reno 911!”) is 39. Bassist Jeff Beres of Sister Hazel is 38. Guitarist-keyboardist Lasse Johansson of The Cardigans is 36. Actress Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”) is 26. Actress Dakota Fanning (“Charlotte’s Web,” “I Am Sam”) is 15.