Chapter 381.A Big Controversy (1)
[Breaking news! During the Golden Globes award ceremony today, Aiden Silvereye who won the award for his performance as Kai August in the acclaimed movie [The Black Saint] rejected the award on set, citing reasons of the corruption against the American press association. At the start of the year, this is one of the biggest controversies. He had accused the association\'s president Philips Fraser of sexual assault charges. We have an expert here to talk about the topic in hand…]
Ava looked at the TV screen and frowned. She was currently in a hotel room in London and had seen the entirety of Aiden\'s speech.
The news channel, especially the ones focused on entertainment had already picked up the news and called up experts to talk about it.
They were surely going to run the news for a week at least. More if the controversy stretches and Ava knew that it was going to stretch for a while.
"He\'s really a crazy guy."
She thought in her mind. Her phone was constantly vibrating due to all the calls she was getting.
Aiden was working with Titan studios for his next and was close to her, so she was getting the calls as people were very curious.
A lot had already predicted that the press association was not going to take this lightly.
They will try their best to silent Aiden and fight against the allegations.
One would say that it might just be easier to suspend Philips Fraser as at least the association knows that the allegations weren\'t wrong.
But it would also hurt the reputation of the organisation.
The association certainly didn\'t want that, so they would try to fight off Aiden\'s allegation. Later, they could hold another internal investigation and just push the case under the rug when the topic dies down in the media.
"Things are going to be very interesting for the next few days. I hope Aiden has plans."
Ava muttered and at the moment, her phone rang again.
This time, she picked it up as if it was her assistant. She had told her to get to the bottom of the mess and report.
"So, what have you got?"
Ava asked and her assistant quickly spoke.
"It\'s a very chaotic situation. The press association is a mess. I heard they called an urgent meeting to discuss and some people are opposing Philips Fraser. It was already a hush hush topic."
"So, they are going to launch an investigation seriously this time."
"I doubt it. It might be for names but they are seriously going to come after Aiden. The association hadn\'t taken nicely to him and would try to get him blacklisted."
Ava let out a sigh.
She was sure that he would easily lose a few projects if the press association willed it. Alberto Dundley was probably itching to remove him from [Hex] and now, he had got a good reason.
Ava had to talk to him later.
"What can he do then?"
"It\'s hard to say. Until the association kept backing Philips Fraser, he would have it hard. The association rarely throws one of their members under the bus, especially a president. It would take a lot for Aiden to come out on top this time. He might be able to get the media to talk about his blacklisting for a while but they would only give him attention till the next big scandal."
Ava thought silently for a while. Going against a biggie was always a hard thing, especially like this.
He has asked her before if she will help him if he ever gets blacklisted. She never thought it would happen two hours later.
Sighing, she opened her mouth.
"Try to find anything that could help Aiden against the press association. I will try to help contain the situation myself. As for Aiden, I\'m pretty sure he has some sort of plan."
***
"I do have a plan."
Aiden muttered as he drove the car. He was not outside the award venue currently and was on the road.
He had sent Wade to do something else and was currently on the phone with Dustin.
He had called him after hearing about what had happened in the award show.
"Even if you have a plan, what the hell were you thinking pulling off something like that. The whole industry is shaken because of you."
"I did it because it was the right thing and my intention wasn\'t to shake the industry. It was to shake the press association and I hope it worked."
"It certainly did, you crazy bastard! People are attacking them right now on the internet."
Aiden smiled hearing that. He didn\'t have a lot of time to check the internet as he was making a few calls.
But it seemed like everything was going right.
Although he had acted without thinking a lot, he still had a plan ready. Though Aiden didn\'t know if it was going to work or not.
"Hey, thanks. I never thought you would do this for me. It means a lot."
After a while, Dustin said in a grateful voice.
"If it means a lot, then do one thing. You have reporters calling you right?"
"Yeah, Justin is handling all of them. He never got so many calls at the same time before."
Aiden smirked hearing that and stopped his car.
"Tell him to get an interview with the best reporter he could find. With the largest reach. Now that it\'s out in the open, you need to talk about it. And do it in a way that goes viral."
He was basically telling Dustin to put on more pressure on Philips Fraser and the press association. As he was the main victim, he was also the most important person in the whole controversy.
Dustin also understood this and nodded.
"Okay, I will give an interview. An explosive one."
He cut the call after that and Aiden got out of his car. Taking a deep breath, he looked out for reporters but there were none.
Looks like none of them had chased him.
After that, he looked up ahead and walked towards the restaurant. He had come to his uncle\'s restaurant as his home and office would have already been surrounded by reporters.
It was late at night so the restaurant was already closed.
He knocked on the door and his uncle quickly opened. Concerned eyes scanned his face as he walked inside.
"You can\'t stay without trouble for long."
"I tried to. I like peace myself."
Uncle Sam sighed but didn\'t say anything. He knew that there was no going back now.
"Is she here?"
Aiden asked as he looked at his uncle.
"Yeah, she\'s inside. Go and talk. If you need help, remember, I still have a few contacts left. Few people who owe me small favours."
"I know. I will keep it in mind."
Aiden smiled and walked inside to the staff area. Uncle Sam locked the door and just gave him privacy.
Inside, there was already someone waiting for Aiden.
"You ruined my sleep."
"I thought you were already up when I called you."
"You did that even before that. Every reporter and paparazzi in Hollywood is up right now because of the spectacle you pulled."
Katherine Huff said as she looked at him with eyes full of curiosity. It seemed like she was now seeing Aiden in a new light. As a more gutsy and stupid actor.
She was one of the reporters that Aiden was close with and she had helped him with Florence Levine in the past. Aiden felt like he could trust her, so he called her here.
It was the only safe place for them to talk.
"For a while, I wasn\'t going to do it. Just taking the award and going home felt like a good idea to me but somewhere in my heart, it wasn\'t acceptable."
Aiden said as he sat down in front of her.
"It was a pretty stupid move. You are halfway through being blacklisted."
"I didn\'t do anything wrong."
"Hollywood doesn\'t work with logic."
Katherine smiled and Aiden leaned against his seat. If he was being honest, he didn\'t really care if the press association wanted to blacklist him.
He was going to attack them first.
"You said that what I did was stupid right?"
"Yeah everyone would say that." Katherine replied with a nod.
"I don\'t believe that. It\'s only stupid if my career ends here and Philips Fraser is safe. The conclusion still hadn\'t happened. The match is in the interval right now."
Every big decision travels a thin line between brave and stupid. The results matter in the end.
That will decide if his decision was brave or stupid.
"So, how are you going to win it?"
"To win it, I need your help."
Aiden said as he looked straight at her.
"Why will I help you?"
Katherine asked and Aiden had already thought of an answer.
"Because I\'m the most talked about person in Hollywood right now. If I win against Philips Fraser, that would increase even more and you will get a chance to take an exclusive interview with me. Won\'t that be nice for you?"