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Arnold Schwarzenegger | MTV Awards | Mel Gibson

Arnold's 'Smoking Gun': Sex, Drugs and Booze

This may be a first for a gubernatorial candidate. The Web site thesmokinggun.com has dug up a 1977 interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger that should have tongues across California wagging all day.

The interview, conducted by Peter Manso for Oui magazine, which was a sort of literary version of Playboy in its day, contains quotes that Schwarzenegger will not want to hear or see ever again. He's probably forgotten that he even gave this interview; I just don’t know how he'll explain it to Maria Shriver or his children.

Arnold, then making the transition to acting with the documentary "Pumping Iron," frankly discusses his own promiscuity. He does so using such specifically graphic, misogynistic language that before he enters the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, he’ll have to have his mouth washed out with soap. The interview reveals a vulgar, low-class neophyte who seems to have no clue that one day his words could be used against him.

Schwarzenegger observes for Manso: "I get laid on purpose. I can’t sleep before competition and I’m up all night anyway, so instead of staring at the ceiling, I figure I might as well find somebody and [expletive]."

Schwarzenegger then describes for Manso a "gang bang" he participated in with other weight lifters at Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica, Calif. He recalls that the woman involved was black, and the men who participated were only the ones who could have sex in public.

Nice, huh?

Schwarzenegger also goes into a lengthy discussion of his personal size and whether it matters. I pretty much can’t quote anything from this section of the interview.

Schwarzenegger doesn't shy away from telling Manso about his substance abuse, either. He claims in the interview that he mixes whiskey in his protein drink -- and smokes both marijuana and hashish, "not hard drugs." This was not a mere passing fancy, but seemingly a regular habit.

"I get stoned. I do my own thing," Arnold boasts.

It should be interesting to see how the voters in California react to these quotes.

Their biggest referendum may be on whether a man’s character is formed in youth and becomes the template for his life and philosophy.

MTV Awards Try to Cash In

Tonight, MTV will try to do something that makes as little sense as everything else on the network. They will try giving country music legend Johnny Cash some awards for a music video they have almost not shown at all.

"Hurt," the video in which Cash sings a song by Nine Inch Nails, has rarely been shown on MTV since its release earlier this year, though it was a staple on the channel's music-loaded offshoot MTV2. But among a group of juvenile delinquents, parolees, underage teens and lip-synchers, Cash is considered the only guy who can give the annual Video Music Awards a scintilla of respectability.

The question is, if they do give "Hurt" a bunch of awards, will the network feel the need or enough guilt to play the Cash video? The answer is: probably not.

As it is, MTV plays few music videos anyway. Most of their programming is long form, like "The Real World" and "Road Rules." The videos they do play are aimed at very young teens, most of whom are unaware of Cash’s existence.

Meantime, it’s interesting to note that the post-VMA award party situation is pretty thin. Sony Music is not spending any money at all, and that seems to be the situation in general. The most highly anticipated bash might be Madonna’s Maverick Records bash, which will rev up at the Four Seasons once the show has concluded. The big, big party award goes to Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. His after-after party doesn’t start until 1 a.m. at a former porno club on Eighth Avenue.

Johnny Cash? He’ll be asleep, no doubt, long before that.

Mel Gibson's Passion a Passel of Trouble

I had to laugh, or at least chuckle, when I read the stories about Mel Gibson’s movie "The Passion" being chased by many distributors.

Unlike even the most controversial films "The Passion" is really a hot potato.

I don’t care what anyone spins in the papers. Sony, Paramount, and Warner’s classic divisions will be hard-pressed to release a film that portrays the Jews as the killers of Jesus. I don’t care how good the cinematography is, or how great Monica Bellucci looks.

Right now, "The Passion" actually "belongs" to 20th Century Fox, which, as I previously reported, has a first look and turn down option with Gibson’s Icon Productions. They have to pass first before another studio can make an offer.

Of all the names bandied about last week, the only one that comes close to being serious would be Lion’s Gate. This mini studio released "Dogma" and "American Psycho." They’re about to unleash "Party Monster." Skilled at scandal, Lion’s Gate would probably premiere "The Passion" at Sundance in January, and then do battle with all critics.

The rest of the gang? I may be wrong, but I don’t think they’re interested in having an all-out skirmish in the press come Easter.