Off The Duff

Tout va bien. Tout va bien.

That means – EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Reports are beginning to surface on the web about a ‘pseudo-incident’ that happened along the Cannes Croisette (in front of The Martinez hotel) about two and a half hours ago here.

What was first reported as fireworks mistaken as gunshots then turned into actual gunshots then turned into a man shooting blanks holding an artificial grenade — and this was all before the international media even picked up on it.

Our students and program director – many of whom were still in Cannes at the time of the ‘incident’ around 8PM tonight – were not even aware that anything ‘out of the ordinary’ had occurred. I just sent an email to our listserv explaining what we know in an attempt to stay ahead of the potential onslaught of concerned calls and emails caused by more and more outlets picking up the story.

Now that a solid couple of hours have passed I am sickened to see the filth coming out in this desperate-for-clicks status update from the Facebook page of The Hollywood Reporter, in particular:

Filth. Fear-mongering. And a pathetic excuse for journalism. That’s what that is. ESPECIALLY considering earlier statuses and tweets from the mag’s social media pages regarding the disturbance were tepid at best. Now I see that they have “amped up” their wording and descriptions to compete with other sites who are picking it up. What an absolutely pathetic practice. I seriously may walk down to their booth by the Hotel Stephanie tomorrow and complain. We deserve better. The Festival – nay, THE WORLD – deserves better.

Furthermore, within 15-minutes of its posting, that ridiculous status had already been ‘shared’ by close to 100 others on Facebook (no doubt, by folks who are at least a flight away from the Croisette).

I am appalled and angered at THR who SHOULD know better as they are a mainstay here in Cannes each year and certainly have enough eye-witnesses on the ground who can assuredly report that everything is ‘business as usual’ along the Croisette tonight, despite this reported brief interruption.

It may be tomorrow before we find out the real story of what happened tonight, but in the meantime the last thing anyone needs is a false sense of fear drummed up by some desperate social media coordinators.

For attendees of the Festival and their network of friends and family alike spread across the globe, I beg the media to report the facts instead of cluttering up the phone lines and email waves should something truly newsworthy occur.