Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler may be an exhibitionist, but he does not think he and his family should be photographed by paparazzi inside his multimillion-dollar oceanfront retreat near Makena on Maui.
"Being a personality, no matter where we go, we get shot. It’s part of the dealio. And it’s OK. It kind of drives us crazy, but as my Mom said, ‘You asked for it, Steven,’" Tyler told state senators Friday at a hearing on an anti-paparazzi bill.
"But when I’m in my own home and I’m taking a shower, or changing clothes, or eating, or spending Christmas with my children, and I see paparazzi a mile away at La Perouse (Bay) shooting at me with lenses this long, and then seeing that very picture in People magazine — you know, it hurts."
Tyler and Mick Fleetwood, the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, who has a home in Kula, asked senators to give celebrities and other public figures the legal right to file civil lawsuits against photographers who violate their privacy.
"It’s not actually just about, quote, ‘celebrities’; this is about people," Fleetwood said.
Hawaii’s Constitution provides an explicit right to privacy, and the state’s criminal laws already prohibit trespassing, invasion of privacy and harassment. But the entertainers and their attorneys say that a civil remedy is necessary because of the increasingly resourceful paparazzi. Singers Britney Spears, Ozzie Osbourne and Neil Diamond were among several celebrities who submitted written testimony in favor of the bill. Gov. Neil Abercrombie also supported the bill’s intent.
"This kind of law is necessary in the modern age where technology allows people to take high-resolution photographs, sound recordings and video from unprecedented distances and locations," said Dina LaPolt, an entertainment attorney who represents Tyler and Fleetwood.
The state attorney general’s office, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and the Motion Picture Association of America had opposed the initial draft of Senate Bill 465 as vague, overly broad and a potential threat to First Amendment rights to free speech.
Sen. Clayton Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua), chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, amended the bill Friday so that public figures would have the right to sue only in cases where they have reasonable expectations of privacy and are engaged in personal or familial activity on property they own or lease. The bill would not apply to activity in public places, such as beaches, or to private facilities, such as hotels.
The new draft, which now goes to the full Senate, is modeled after a California law.
Stirling Morita, president of the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii chapter and a night city editor at the Star-Advertiser, said the new draft is still too vague about what behavior constitutes personal and familial activity. He said the bill could interfere with legitimate news gathering, citing examples from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in which the and ABC News had been sued under the California law.
"I don’t know how you go about defining it," Morita said. "I couldn’t define it for you, but it seems vague enough that it would still draw a reaction from us as not being constitutional."
But Sen. J. Kalani English (D, Molokai-Lanai-Upcountry Maui-Hana), who introduced the bill and named it the "Steven Tyler Act," told reporters after the hearing that the First Amendment protects the right to report the news, not to gather the news.
"If Steven or Mick are on the beach in Hawaii, go ahead and take the pictures, because it’s a public space," English said. "We’re talking about private spaces here — your home, where you want to have an intimate moment with your family. These are the spaces we’re talking about."
Tyler and Fleetwood created a buzz at the state Capitol and were treated as special guests. Senators invited Tyler to give a "moment of contemplation" before their floor session, which he used to lobby for his bill. Senate Majority Leader Brickwood Galuteria (D, Kakaako-McCully-Waikiki) described the rocker as a "kamaaina-in-training." Only Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai) had the nerve to take a pin to the celebrity balloon — telling Tyler, who had stripped down to his underwear in appearances as a judge on "American Idol" — that "it’s a pleasure to see you in clothes today."
Tyler said he comes to Hawaii to seek refuge and considers the islands a place to rest his spirit and restore his creativity, an experience interrupted by paparazzi. "Has it ruined my career? No. But I just feel as though my freedom to do what I want at home is compromised by them needing footage and selling it for money. I have no private life," he told reporters.
"So I come to Maui to feel the mana, you know, the sunshine, the whales calving. It’s what I love — I love diving — but to be shot constantly? You only have to live it; you wouldn’t be asking me that question."
