Lily Koppel Quotes

'George' exploits John Kennedy Jr.'s cult of celebrity at a time when Americans are hungry for icons, not heroes.

Snooki and Honey Boo Boo. These are big celebrities in the U.S. You want to throw up.

Michael Jackson, the 49ers and the Lakers - that's what I know about the '80s.

Do you remember where you were when Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died?

When Michael Jackson died, I knew him very well. And everybody was talking about Michael Jackson. They didn't know him. They knew nothing. Some of them never even met him. And I sort of laughed to myself.

America has a relationship with Bobby and Whitney.

Michael's the ultimate entertainer. After Michael Jackson, it's Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Bruce Lee.

I think one of the things I was shocked about was how interested the world is in 'American Idol' and how people, writers, they write about 'Idol' all the time, and I guess I didn't expect that.

Michael Jackson is the ultimate traffic accident. People can't take their eyes off him.

The cult of celebrity in the '60s and '70s was really more reserved for movie stars or high socialites. Paparazzi didn't care about Janis Joplin.

Once they began doing 'Celebrity Apprentice,' apparently the audience wasn't that keen on the ordinary apprentice. That is probably the best indictment with our fascination with celebrity in our culture, which drives me crazy.

Plenty of people detested Michael Jackson before his death wiped away the world's collective memory. Timberlake was originally dismissed as just another boy-bander. Legions have joined in a 'Hate Anne Hathaway' movement. Elvis, the Rolling Stones, Kristen Bell, even Mozart had haters.

You can talk about Michael Jackson all you want, but John Hughes was the soundtrack to my 1980s life.

I think that Michael Jackson, just as an entertainer, as a figure who embodies the contradictions of black identity and the possibilities of R&B music in the '70s and '80s, will continue to be one of the most recognized and formidable human beings that we've ever produced in our tradition.

I have the person at home, the person who has his privacy, too. Michael Jackson didn't do the moonwalk in his kitchen.

Fame has sent a number of celebrities off the deep end, and in the case of Michael Jackson, to the kiddy pool.

There is a certain comfort in waking up and finding that Michael Jackson is still the Big Story. At least it tells you that nothing horrible has happened in the world that would force them to move on to real news.

Imitation is flattery. There was once a survey of who was the most imitated celebrity in Latin American countries, especially in Brazil and Argentina, and I was in third place after Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

To describe the world Michael Jackson has created around himself as a childhood fantasy isn't quite accurate. Thanks to wealth and celebrity, he has been able to live as a superannuated child. With the help of plastic surgery and dramatic affectation, he has made himself look and sound pre-pubescent.

When I was really, really young, I was in love with Michael Jackson.

For me, Michael Jackson was a star. Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are stars. They are the ones who own and carry stardom.

L.A., for me, is a perfect microcosm of America - because it's so profligate, and so glamorous, and so anti-intellectual, finally.

I've been thinking a lot about how we worship celebrity and how we have Elvis and Marilyn Monroe and Jesus all on the same playing field.

I think the relentless tide of celebrity stuff on the telly is getting pretty tedious.

There probably won't be an animated The Roots or Black Thought as there was, say, an animated Michael Jackson when 'The Jackson 5' cartoon show was on when we were kids.