Well, here we are in Week 2 of the Walt Disney Company dealing with its Undressa Hudgens situation. And based on what I’ve been hearing, Mickey has finally decided that it will in fact stand behind this “High School Musical” star.
Mind you, it’s not like the Mouse ever really had the option of distancing itself from Ms. Hudgens. Everywhere you look, Vanessa’s image is being used to help hype “High School Musical” -related merchandise. Everything from posters …
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… to electric toothbrushes …
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… to Playstation games …
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… Ms. Hudgens’ likeness is even being used to help sell Troy & Gabriella dolls.
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And given that Disney & Feld Entertainment are right in the middle of launching “High School Musical: The Ice Tour” …
Cast members of the East Coast version of “Disney’s High School Musical : The Ice Tour.”
Brad Santer as Troy, Amanda Billings as Gabriella, Kristen Treni as Sharpay,
Adam Loosely as Ryan, Steven Smith as Chad and Hamidah Ahmad as Taylor.
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… The Mouse doesn’t need this scandal, as mild as it now may be …
Cast members of the West Coast version of “Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour.”
Jordan Brauniger as Troy, Lane Walker as Gabriella, Sandra Rucker as Sharpay, Bonard Muck as Ryan,
Simeon Hanks as Chad and Tetona Jackson as Taylor.
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… bubbling up again.
Gladys Orozco as Gabriella and Trey Ehre as Troy,
cast members of the International version of “Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour.”
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Which is why Mickey ordered Vanessa to back out of her long-scheduled appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” last Thursday night. To Disney’s way of thinking, the very last thing that Ms. Hudgens needed last week was to be seated across from Leno while that late-night TV host asked her (a la Hugh Grant) “What the hell were you thinking?”
Luckily, Vanessa caught a break last week. In that that long-rumored second set of salacious photographs finally surfaced and proved to be rather tame. They just showed Vanessa with a bunch of her female friends, obviously camping it up for the camera. Which made it difficult for this nude-HSM-star story to catch a second wind with the National Enquirer and TMZ crowd.
Of course, that didn’t stopped the Enquirer from trying. They’ve actually got a story up this week that talks about how Ms. Hudgens supposedly sent a copy of this now infamous nude photo to her then-boyfriend, Adam O’Neal.
Which puts kind of an interesting new twist on this tale. Given that this National Enquirer article alleges that Vanessa e-mailed this image to Adam back in January of 2004. When Ms. Hudgens was just 15 years-old and O’Neal only 16.
Which you’d think — given that we’re now talking about a nude photograph of a minor — would give Disney officials apoplexy. But based on what company insiders have told me, they were secretly thrilled once they learned that Vanessa took this picture of herself back in 2004.
As one unnamed official explained it to me:
“It’s great news for us that this picture is over three years old. That means that Vanessa didn’t take a nude photo of herself while she was working on any of our ‘High School Musical’ movies. That means that this scandal can’t really be tied back to the Walt Disney Company, the Disney Channel or Zac Efron. We’re all off the hook now. Everyone except Ms. Hudgens, of course.”
This is why Mickey has asked Vanessa to keep an extremely low profile between now and December 11th. Which is when the “High School Musical 2: Extended Edition” DVD officially goes on sale.
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After that … Well, provided that she keeps her nose clean (More importantly, her clothes on), Ms. Hudgens should be invited back to reprise her role of Gabriella Montez in “High School Musical 3” when production begins next March.
Please note that accent on the word “should.” Mouse House officials have made it very clear to Vanessa that her participation in the third HSM film now depends on no more nude photographs surfacing. And given that the Tabs have put the word out that they are willing to pay big bucks to anyone who can come forward with new naked pictures of Ms. Hudgens … Well, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few months.
So what do you folks think? Has Disney’s PR team been handling its Undressa Hudgens problem fairly well? Or is there something else that Mickey could be doing in order to distract the “High School Musical” crowd?
Your thoughts?