Randy Taraborrelli Interview

[RanRan79]

That's what I'm saying. Oh in regards to Mary not suing Tony. Didn't his book come out around the time her second book came out? Didn't she fire him? Wasn't it Berry Gordy that threaten to sue him which prevented him from releasing his 3rd book? Makes me wonder if Mary didn't have to get at him to make him leave "the scene" LOL! Any way. I don't like to, but I have sued people before. Sometimes they leave you no choice. Miss Ross, if she felt all these people lied on her in all of these books [[including those by Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Bettye LaVette and on and on and on....) she should have sued them to clear her name........that's if none of it were true.

I actually like Diana's approach, which is the way most famous folks do it. Unless you claim something extraordinarily horrible, like Tony Turner did with his proposed third book claiming that Berry Gordy molested him as a youth, and of which Gordy promptly went into legal attack mode, as he should've [[assuming it was false), you let people say whatever they want and you pay them no mind. The things that have been claimed against Diana Ross have been nothing of the sort that should've made her run to her lawyers about anything. Only a few people like yourself who seem overly invested in the goings on in the life of a 75 year old woman who was in her twenties when most of the gossip usually takes place seem to really care about what is said about her. For everything a few people say negatively about her, she keeps pressing on. The proof is in the fruit that she bore, and that would be her children and grandchildren. If you wanna gauge the happiness of a woman of Diana's age, check out the relationship to the children. I've seen it in the women I know personally my whole life. The elderly women who were shitty mothers, you can tell. The good ones? You can tell that too. I suspect that as long Diana Ross has a family that love and respects her and doesn't care what anyone has to say about her, she give you and everyone else nothing as the books are written and the Soulful Detroit posts are created. Never underestimate the love of family. It will outweigh all even when the whole world is against you.

[marv2]

I actually like Diana's approach, which is the way most famous folks do it. Unless you claim something extraordinarily horrible, like Tony Turner did with his proposed third book claiming that Berry Gordy molested him as a youth, and of which Gordy promptly went into legal attack mode, as he should've [[assuming it was false), you let people say whatever they want and you pay them no mind. The things that have been claimed against Diana Ross have been nothing of the sort that should've made her run to her lawyers about anything. Only a few people like yourself who seem overly invested in the goings on in the life of a 75 year old woman who was in her twenties when most of the gossip usually takes place seem to really care about what is said about her. For everything a few people say negatively about her, she keeps pressing on. The proof is in the fruit that she bore, and that would be her children and grandchildren. If you wanna gauge the happiness of a woman of Diana's age, check out the relationship to the children. I've seen it in the women I know personally my whole life. The elderly women who were shitty mothers, you can tell. The good ones? You can tell that too. I suspect that as long Diana Ross has a family that love and respects her and doesn't care what anyone has to say about her, she give you and everyone else nothing as the books are written and the Soulful Detroit posts are created. Never underestimate the love of family. It will outweigh all even when the whole world is against you.

That's nice, but there is no way in Hell I am going to believe that is why she has not sued this guy or anyone else that has written about her in books!

[midnightman]

That's nice, but there is no way in Hell I am going to believe that is why she has not sued this guy or anyone else that has written about her in books!

Well Diana is far from the only superstar celebrity who didn't sue against an author for a supposedly defaming book on her [[which I don't think it was). So I guess if we're to believe the stories in books about Diana, we have to believe the stories about Aretha, about Michael Jackson, about Smokey Robinson, about any artist that has had issues over the years and put into a book or two. Whitney Houston didn't sue Kevin Ammons for his Good Girl, Bad Girl book [[which claimed Whitney's alleged girlfriend Robyn Crawford was also fooling with Whitney's brother Michael) or Faith Evans, who alleged Whitney had an affair with 2Pac [[Bobby Brown alluded to the same thing in his book). I mean if the stuff about Diana is true and I tend to believe a good chunk of it [[because we're not all saints of course), we have to believe everything else, right? Just going on the theory that if a celebrity doesn't sue on a book about them, that means the stories are factual.

[RanRan79]

Well Diana is far from the only superstar celebrity who didn't sue against an author for a supposedly defaming book on her [[which I don't think it was). So I guess if we're to believe the stories in books about Diana, we have to believe the stories about Aretha, about Michael Jackson, about Smokey Robinson, about any artist that has had issues over the years and put into a book or two. Whitney Houston didn't sue Kevin Ammons for his Good Girl, Bad Girl book [[which claimed Whitney's alleged girlfriend Robyn Crawford was also fooling with Whitney's brother Michael) or Faith Evans, who alleged Whitney had an affair with 2Pac [[Bobby Brown alluded to the same thing in his book). I mean if the stuff about Diana is true and I tend to believe a good chunk of it [[because we're not all saints of course), we have to believe everything else, right? Just going on the theory that if a celebrity doesn't sue on a book about them, that means the stories are factual.

Exactly. These folks would spend a lot of money in legal fees fighting every single thing alleged about them, and they mostly wouldn't be able to prove that someone is lying. Could you imagine Diana trying to prove that something is a lie from 1965? Nearly impossible. It's usually one person's word against another.

[RanRan79]

That's nice, but there is no way in Hell I am going to believe that is why she has not sued this guy or anyone else that has written about her in books!

What would she be suing about though? Do you really think it's worth her time to sue someone who writes in a book about how she copied someone's dress and then wore it before they had a chance? Or how about suing because someone said she hit him upside the head with a hat box with a dog hidden inside? Or maybe she should've sued because someone wrote that she wasn't always nice to Mary Wilson?

The law appears to be [[and you legal scholars please feel free to step in and confirm or correct me) fairly strict on what constitutes a person being able to sue an author for libel or defamation. Diana would have to prove that her reputation has truly suffered as a result of these books, and I don't believe she can do that. I know a few Mary fans like to believe that Dreamgirl somehow kept Diana from scoring another hit, but that's a fantasy, not reality. The truth is that by the time Dreamgirl hit the street, Diana hadn't had a hit over here in two years. And then three or so years after Dreamgirl, Diana hit the top 5 r&b. She was still in demand as a concert draw. Still being approached to take part in major television appearances. Mary's book didn't steal her shine, nor did JRandyT's book, Tony Turner, or anyone else since. Music wise, what killed Diana's career was stinky music which nobody wanted to bother with, and when she did record good stuff, she was considered "past it" by the business who was more interested in the Toni Braxton and Mary J Blige's of the industry.

Diana is the rule for celebrities, not the exception, when it comes to allowing negative depictions in books to go without pursuing legal options, if any exists for her particular case. You almost never hear of celebrities suing authors.