‘Oops!... I Did It Again’

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August 19, 2005

I hate to be the Celebrity Nazi, but this must not pass unremarked. We’ve noted the hackish tendencies of the Times of India web site before. Check out yesterday’s doozy (via Kush): the ToI’s photo implied that Britney Spears’ first husband was Jason Alexander, the rotund comedian who played George Costanza on Seinfeld.

Of course, the young rake they’re really after is Jason Allen Alexander of ‘I was Britney Spears’ love slave for 55 hours’ infamy.

“I never thought the wedding was a joke. I was serious about everything I said. But being married to Britney Spears was shit…” [Link]

Maybe the ToI should hire some of those call center people who watch American sitcoms all day. No fact-checking for you!

In other news, I was married to Carmen Electra for 55 hours. Uh, that’s Carmen Electra of Oskaloosa, Kansas

Humor

POSTED BY manish @ 08:33 PM

30 comments

1 · Gabbar Singh on August 19, 2005 09:13 PM · Direct link

Sorry, Carmen! :-(

2 · Thakur on August 19, 2005 09:15 PM · Direct link

Oy Gabbar, don't make me "kick" your ass...

3 · TheRealCarmen on August 20, 2005 12:20 AM · Direct link

good for ya buddy! I think u guys look cute together :)

4 · Paranoid Android on August 20, 2005 09:05 AM · Direct link

did any of you guys visit ESPN.com this morning?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=cricket

i must say, it came as a bit of a shock to me.

5 · Al Mujahid for debauchery on August 20, 2005 09:38 AM · Direct link

CRICKET IN AMERICA
George Washington was a cricket enthusiast and his troops played a version of it during the Revolutionary War.

Its under 'What is cricket'?

6 · TheGreatGujju on August 20, 2005 09:54 AM · Direct link

ToI is the biggest kaka-poo newspaper in the world. I don't think they're reached the level of fact 'checking' - they need facts first.

7 · Babloo on August 20, 2005 09:56 AM · Direct link

Cricket link

BTW, has anyone heard of Gujarati men shopping for brides in India? Is this an urban legend ...

8 · Ganguly on August 20, 2005 09:58 AM · Direct link

that is the stupidest crash course in cricket I have ever seen!!!

9 · Shaadi.com on August 20, 2005 10:02 AM · Direct link

Babloo--- Urban legend??? Happens quiet a bit !

10 · Bong Breaker on August 20, 2005 10:04 AM · Direct link

Al M for D, that link is hilarious. The way they explain cricket, having to put everything in baseball terminology 'backsweeps, Billy Wagner fastballs, a six is like a home run, and the daft video that plays "Amar's Baahllywood wife Tejal". She's Indian, hence she's a Bollywood wife. This is why I like the BBC, American TV networks are garbage.

I wasn't aware of this either: "Fast pitchers such as India's Irfan Pathan can throw a missile off the ground at more than 100 mph". Pathan's never got that fast. And he's not a pitcher!

I mentioned American kirikit in a comment a while back, it's in a very sorry state.

Here's a really funny article on how if it wasn't for cricket, baseball AND America would not exist! (Warning: Anti-baseball sentiments abound)

11 · Squared on August 20, 2005 11:01 AM · Direct link

Well, we should be thankful to TOI to get at least one person right out of two!

12 · dhaavak on August 20, 2005 11:21 AM · Direct link

hmm... I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this - it's one thing to poke fun at poseurs or typos - but if the subtext is fat people should stick to their phenotype or risk being mocked ... - am not that naive to say, "that's just not fair" - but surely... you could blunt the barb manish, no?

13 · DesiDudeInAustin on August 20, 2005 11:21 AM · Direct link

Ok, here is my version of what would have happened if Britney had actually married Jason 'George Costanza' Alexander.

Standard disclaimers for shameless self publicity apply.

14 · Manish Vij on August 20, 2005 12:08 PM · Direct link

... I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this...

It's not the chub, it's the Lenny Kravitz goggles. You don't want to pick someone who's genuinely unattractive by mainstream standards because that would be mean-spirited. You just want to pick someone slightly unfashionable.

Besides, if you click the link, I don't think this model is lacking for exposure-- she's in a humorous ad campaign for shoes. Here's her male counterpart.

15 · Babloo on August 20, 2005 01:15 PM · Direct link

Germanic blondie lovers (Al_M, RTA etc) of SM unite!! One of your womenfolk (almost) is being mocked and assailed in the commons. Be men, rise to the occasion and defend her honor. She has feelings too...

16 · tac on August 20, 2005 02:09 PM · Direct link

owie.. stupid TOI! bad TOI!

17 · Rahul on August 20, 2005 04:45 PM · Direct link

Maybe we can all call TOI and yodel "CantStandYa..." to them. Surely, they deserve it.

18 · shoeless on August 20, 2005 11:54 PM · Direct link

ganguly,

not much of a captain are ya?

19 · Suhail Kazi on August 22, 2005 03:28 AM · Direct link

To be fair to TOI-let paper they laid the byline-cum-blame at the door of "The Agencies" -- ..oh and that photo of Jason 'Contanza' Alexander is from "The Reuters"...wowziee!!

such a piece of BS, this TOI.

20 · WatchItFellas on August 23, 2005 08:57 PM · Direct link

To all the people mockering about TOI's news: do a google search and you will find that this news item(if u can call it so) was reported on hundreds of news websites.

heres one i found:
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/spears%20ex-husband%20slams%20their%20s**t%20marriage

so Manish next time u post something, google it first!

21 · Manish Vij on August 24, 2005 03:16 AM · Direct link

so Manish next time u post something, google it first!

The mistake was the photo they ran of the wrong person, not the news story.

22 · Carmen Electra on January 21, 2006 07:15 PM · Direct link

Too bad for all the mix up and controversy-someone is a legal spouse-

23 · Iru on February 24, 2006 11:32 AM · Direct link

It happens only in TOI

24 · Pattie Kaur on February 24, 2006 09:05 PM · Direct link

In other news, I was married to Carmen Electra for 55 hours. Uh, thats Carmen Electra of Oskaloosa, Kansas

hahhaha, as long as you woke up before she realised you were a male human, you're ok.

25 · Pattie Kaur on February 24, 2006 09:13 PM · Direct link

I just love the cricket bits we sneaked in here!

Ah, the desperateness of shoe ads.

26 · krishna on February 24, 2006 11:04 PM · Direct link

The print edition sucks too. barely 10 pages and most pages are ads and scoiety boolywood hoolywood news. The street kids in bomby were selling me a great Leftist literate paper...does anyone know the name?

27 · susan on February 28, 2006 12:09 PM · Direct link

Yeah, I never thought the wedding was a joke. I was serious about everything I said. But being married to Britney Spears was shit Poor guy, guess the perfume he bought at http://www.britneyspearsperfume.net didn't do the trick. Ha ha.

28 · susan on February 28, 2006 12:13 PM · Direct link

Yeah, I never thought the wedding was a joke. I was serious about everything I said. But being married to Britney Spears was shit Poor guy, guess the perfume he bought at Britney Spears Perfumedidn't do the trick. Ha ha.

29 · Rebekah on October 19, 2006 09:28 PM · Direct link

hey u rock

30 · Jack Yan on February 2, 2008 01:17 AM · Direct link

I love this blooperâ€”and I had been joking about it since it happened back in 2004. Glad to see that the Times of India happily plays to my sense of humour.
More recently I spotted another item that the Times of India got terribly wrong: a story about Miranda Kerr, the Australian model, that didnâ€™t even happen!
Now with these two gaffes, I will have to take anything in the Times of India with a grain of salt.

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