‘Sex and the City’ star Kristin Davis handles nude photos scandal

This week nude photos that are allegedly of “Sex and the City” actress Kristin Davis leaked on the Internet. Celebrity Web site TMZ did some investigating, and claims that the pictures were taken in 1992 by her then-boyfriend Eric Stapelman. It is rumored that the pictures are photo stills from a sex tape that was made.

An analysis of seven mainstream media articles reflects how much control Davis and her publicist had over the situation. Five of the articles quoted Davis’ representative who made a statement saying, “This is not a photo of Kristin Davis. There is no sex tape.” The Washington Times and TMZ referenced the representative’s statement, but did not directly quote it.

With the exception of TMZ and The Washington Times, every article featured pictures of Davis smiling and fully clothed.  TMZ and The Washington Times also created headlines that played on the words “Sex and the City,” and “sex tape.” The headlines for the other five articles state that Davis denied the photo stills were of her.

Overall the mainstream media coverage of the alleged sex tape scandal was positive. Newsday and OK! Magazine suggested that the pictures were part of a publicity stunt for her new “Sex and the City” movie. Us Magazine and “Access Hollywood” actually plugged Davis’ upcoming movie. Most of the headlines read that Davis denied the photos were of her. Not to mention, the photos used in most of the articles were flattering. One photo even featured Davis at a red carpet event called “Viva La Cure,” which benefited the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund on Oct. 17, 2007, in New York City.

An analysis of four blogs reveals a better insight of what fans actually believe to be true. Perez Hilton photos NSFW, Hollywood’s top celebrity blogger, thinks that the pictures were photoshopped by a jealous ex-boyfriend. Celebrities.com also sided with Davis stating, “When the second image was released by the Blogger on Monday it was painfully obvious that the girl in the shot only bares a passing resemblance to Kristin, from certain angles, and in dim lighting.”

The Hollywood Rag referenced her representative’s statement, and a quote from Ron Jeremy that reads, “Any celebrity that is not doing so good, they jump by having a good sex scandal.”

Davis has public opinion on her side. Three of the four blogs suggest that the photos were either photoshopped, or of a woman who closely resembles Davis.

There are some differences between the blogs and the mainstream media articles. The blogs all feature the sex photos, while most of the news articles do not. The news articles also do not suggest that the woman in the photos is Davis or is someone else. This is no surprise, as traditional news is unbiased.

It seems that Davis and her representative handled the situation well. They responded to the media shortly after the rumors began to spread, and were able to get media hits with flattering pictures of Davis. Public opinion is sacred in show business, and it seems that Davis was able to salvage hers.

Additional Sources: TV Guide blog Fox News article