The Unexpected Hugh Grant Scandal!

Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtItMwwoiVY&t=19s

Staring sheepishly down the camera lens with his shoulders hunched, Hugh Grant looked awkward to say the least. But then this was not a typical photocall. Instead, Grant was having his mugshot taken in a Los Angeles police station after being arrested for having sex in his car with Divine Brown.

The British actor, who had just shot to stardom playing the lead role in Four Weddings and a Funeral, had spectacularly  fallen  from grace, thanks to a moment of “insanity”, as he described it, with the sex worker and now faced the possibility of six months in jail for participating in “lewd conduct” in a public place.

Grant was meant to be in Hollywood to promote his latest film, Nine Months, when he decided, as a local paper said, “to take a walk on the wild side”, cruising down LA’s notorious Sunset Strip at night. It was here that he met Divine Brown (real name Estella Marie Thompson), a local sex worker who he paid $60 (£37) to perform oral sex on him in a nearby street.

After their arrest, both were released to have their cases heard later. Grant, the long-term partner of British actor, model and bombshell Liz Hurley, was quick to release a statement of regret: “Last night I did something completely insane,” he said. “I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.”

But it was Divine Brown who the press really wanted to get to, her story probably the more exciting read. Writing in the Guardian, a British tabloid reporter explained how he and his fellow reporters tried to get to Brown first. It was the News of the World, however, who got the scoop, paying Brown a reported $100,000 for her story.

What they got from Brown was a blow-by-blow account and a line from her claiming that Grant told her: “I always wanted to sleep with a black woman. That’s my fantasy.”

The tabloid revelations came days before Grant faced sentencing. The actor, who did not attend court, was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 and go on an Aids education programme. Having avoided a custodial sentence Grant’s career rehabilitation began with an interview on NBC’s primetime Tonight Show with host Jay Leno. The British actor stuttered and fidgeted before asking viewers for forgiveness, saying: “I’ve done an abominable thing, and my girlfriend has been amazing about it, and contrary to what I read in the paper today, she’s been very supportive, and we’re going to try to patch things up.’’ Even though the couple eventually broke up years later, they still remain very good friends to this day. In fact, he is one of her son´s godfathers, along with Elton John, David Beckham and the late Heath Ledger. 

And on the topic of prostitution,over 1,000 members of a religious group in India have promised to marry sex workers. The Dera Sacha Sauda says it has almost 1,200 “wedding volunteers” who want to take prostitutes out of their industry by marrying them. The sect’s spokesperson Dr Aditya Insan told the ‘Indian Express’ newspaper that society looked down on these women. Many of the men have signed promises with financial and personal details. Dr Insan said: “There are so many volunteers coming forward….We are determined to succeed.” Some of these men include Indian sports stars. One of them said: “At first my parents, especially my father (who is a manager with Delhi Tourism), were taken aback by my decision. But it didn’t take long for them to be happy. They have faith.”

The leader of the sect, guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, started the campaign in a speech he made in November. He told his followers that "all women forced to live as prostitutes are my daughters". One volunteer explained: “I am not marrying a sex worker; I am marrying the daughter of our sect head...There’s no better match I can look forward to.” Another follower, business graduate Ashish Sachdeva, explained why he became a wedding volunteer. He believes it is his chance to repay his debt to humanity and society. "I am very well settled and it will be the greatest honour for me to respond to Guru-ji's call," he said. Dr Insan explained that the biggest challenge was for the women. He said they needed a lot of courage to come forward and ask for a husband.

 

1.Vocabulary

    Part 1

1.	sheepishly	a.	a very attractive person (typically used of a woman).
2.	hunched	b.	in an embarrassed manner due to shame or a lack of self-confidence.
3.	awkward	c.	lose favour or a position of power or honour.
4.	lewd	d.	causing or feeling uneasy embarrassment or inconvenience.
5.	fallen from grace	e.	a photograph of a person's face made for an official purpose, especially police records.
6.	bombshell	f.	sit or stand with one's shoulders raised and the top of one's body bent forward.
7.	Mugshot	g.	vulgar and offensive in a sexual way.

    Part 2

8.	scoop	h.	a piece of news published by a newspaper or broadcast by a television or radio station in advance of its rivals
9.	reported	i.	relating to or requiring imprisonement
10.	blow-by-blow	j.	talk with continued involuntary repitition of sounds, especially initial consonants
11.	custodial	k.	make small movements, especially of the hands and feet, through nervousness or impatience
12.	stuttered	l.	described or talked of, but not verified or confirmed.
13.	fidgeted	m.	(of a description of an event) giving all the details in the order in which they occurred.
14.	abominable	n.	causing moral revulsion

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	promised	a.	triumph
2	industry	b.	bravery
3.	looked down on	c.	pushed
4.	succeed	d.	sneered at
5.	taken aback	e.	privilege
6.	campaign	f.	vowed
7.	forced	g.	union
8.	match	h.	trade
9.	honour / honor	i.	crusade
10.	courage	j.	shocked

3.ROLE PLAY : LEGALIZE IT !

-Choose one of these  illegal things and tell us why it should be made legal?

-The other students must tell us the possible complications that might appear if it is made legal, while  you defend your position.

A: Prostitution

B: Drugs 

C:Euthanasia

D:Voting as a former prisoner

E: Something currently  illegal that should be legalized and is not on the list.

DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS 

	1.When someone asks you what is your favourite film category, what is the correct word? What kind of films was Grant specializing in ?
	2.What do we call the place where a prostitute works? 3. What do you call the woman who owns the place ?  4.And if they work in the streets, what is the name of the man that they work for, that offers them protection but also takes a huge portion of their income ? 5.What is the name of the client of a prostitute?
	6.What did you think of the idea of wedding volunteers?
	7.Do you think this idea will work?
	8.What do you think of the idea of prostitution?
	9.What image did we used to have about Hugh Grant before the scandal ?
	10.Who do people look down on in your society?
	11.What do you think of the men who volunteer to marry a prostitute?
	12.What would you think if your son or brother became a wedding volunteer?
	13.How do you think the women feel about this?