Marlise Boland is using her social network platforms to chastise Richard Armitage fans who have offered legitimate criticism of her journalistic performance and/or questioned exactly what her role is, as an Armitage interview – fan or journalist.
Yesterday, after publication and extensive discourse on the referenced blog posts, she posted this on Twitter:
Today, she posted this on her Facebook Page
Boland seems to be saying that, during this Holiday season and in light of several tragedies and the Sony Hack, we – Richard Armitage Bloggers, ought to be writing about tragedies instead of, what? criticizing her?
After categorizing world and local tragedies she wrote:
It is sad and tragic that we live in a world where some people choose to squander their energy spreading negativity: in their written words…cowardly hidden behind anonymous blogs, emails, letters…or in their irresponsible actions. I pity those individuals who are unable to find a positive path to follow with an equal measure of passion that they use to exude their unfortunate ramblings and behavior.
It is unconscionable, in my opinion, for Marlise Boland to trot out a series of other people’s personal misfortunes or other world events as contrast to two blog posts and hundreds of comments criticizing – well – Marlise Boland.
Anyway, what she’s saying doesn’t make sense. Her reasoning defies a number of theories of logic. She’s saying that there are so many bad things happening in our world right now, that Richard Armitage bloggers should not expend energy by spreading negativity by criticizing her performance, but instead, should – oh wait – she doesn’t say what we should do instead – because after all, it wouldn’t make sense for her to suggest that we write about those tragedies, since, you know, we’re Richard Armitage bloggers.
Furthermore, how could Marlise Boland know just how much or little energy I expend writing blog posts about her, measured against the time I spend in the rest of the life, or what I do, or think about, during that time?
By the way, I noticed, as did Servetus on Me and Richard that Marlise Boland has never addressed these issues before using them now as some sort of sympathy and censorship plea. She spends a fair amount of time writing about high tea instead, Christmas Crackers and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Unfortunately for Marlise Boland, she continues to display unprofessional journalistic behavior – it’s actually getting worse -while at the same time, with her “in the fandom foot” she’s policing fans by telling them that what they’re doing is wrong.
Armitage Agonistes 
This is pretty passive-aggressive of her and also demonstrates how little she really knows of the fandom – especially those who actually pony up REAL MONEY for RA-related causes like the Kindnesses & Just Giving. If there’s anyone who should read what she wrote & take it to heart, it’s her. Pretty arrogant to see real life tragedies in the same light as criticism on the internet. I said as much on Serv’s blog too. I like the way you operate your blogs, and I enjoy the discussions. No one’s been unfair or even mean. I’ve seen references to some past drama in parts of the RA fandom & I hope this doesn’t turn into some big stain.
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I agree that no one on this topic has been unfair, except Marlise Boland, unless you call legitimate criticism, discourse and questioning, unfair. If one or two less widely read blogs stated the same thoughts, If there hadn’t been over 100 comments, many from fans who were of the same mind as the writers, she probably would have ignored it.. On the contrary, though, the blog and twitters stats show that the posts were widely read. She’s made these posts, knowing that she and her platforms are somewhere – maybe just peripherally, in Richard Armitage’s line of sight, and she’s angling to draw him in and get some support from him by way of recognition of her in a tweet or another comment in a Christmas messages, which apparently, she will be publishing .
Another thing she seems not to know about the fandom, is that some of these bloggers, who are also tweeters and tumblrs, have been instrumental in promoting her and her site. Here alone, I have over 20 posts linking to The Anglophile Channel.
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She’s publishing the Christmas message? Is that confirmed? I thought that what I read referred to his “Happy Holidays one and all” statement at the end of the second part of the interview.
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I got that from you, I thought. I have no other confirmation. I hope I misread it.
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No, I didn’t say that. I don’t know it to be true. There was a tag on one of her tweets, “subscribe for a special Christmas …” and I didn’t know what was meant.
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Ohhhhh. Bait and Switch! Glad to have been set straight because I was imagining Not Richard Armitage reading his Christmas message to fans.
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I can’t believe he’d be that clueless about his own fandom, but then again the behavior of @RCArmitage shows a fair amount of that already.
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I definitely misread, and I’ll say that I was honestly stunned by what I thought I read – that his message will come on her site – one because of what the delivery method might be, but more because I really feel that if he needs a platform above 140 characters, RichardAmitageCentral and RichardArmitageNet are the perfect choices now that RAOnLine isn’t.
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It would be a serious sock in the gut to the fans who have supported those sites for almost a decade now in their various forms. I guess we’ll see.
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I agree. Simultaneous posting on the two sites would be a great way to thank them for their hard work and professionalism.
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Blasphemous, I know, but I wouldn’t mind if @RCArmitage took a vacation from Twitter for the Holidays. He deserves it, and so do I. (OK, maybe a Merry Christmas, er, Happy Holidays tweet with a selfie stirring gravy. But then, I’d want to know what type of stove it is, what cookware he’s using, wondra or regular flour . . .
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Reblogged this on Me + Richard Armitage and commented:
ICYMI: More on the Marlise Boland problem.
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I´m sick of it, totally sick. Though I´ve to admit I enjoyed her interviews and I don´t care how professional the vids are done, or if she´s a journalist or a fan or both or anything else. Nonetheless her Facebook post is unprofessional and small minded. Is this the spirit of charity?
She´ll never speak for the fandom, especially not for individuals like you an me and all of us.
BTW, I demand a Christmas message of Mr. A like all the years before, please not on Twitter 🙂
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Striped Candy for you!
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You´ll get one back virtually 🙂
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I have a lot to say on this, none of it nice, but when I try to be serious, no one knows what to do with me, so I’m just going to take everything I do/don’t feel about her policing/spanking the fandom/not fandom she just doesn’t get and sit here in the corner and be pissy. In fact, I’ll drink coke until my blood sugar hits sky scraper proportions and get a headache and then consume much too much chicken and sausage gumbo. I’m with Utepirat about my feelings on the interviews but the rest? Please.
She BETTER NOT be the chosen vehicle for his Christmas message. I will not in a cheerful mood and I will most likely be the Grumpy Cat of Christmas RA cheer.
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Don’t worry about that. This week I was told by a Facebook page administer that Perry “always rains on the parade”. So, that epithet, rumpy Cat, may go to me
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LMAO. Way to be, Black Cloud. 😉
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This is why I don’t consider myself part of The Army, why I don’t participate in organized fandom or established ‘Well-wishing’. the fact remains one faction will always attempt to police the other faction and this group will bully the other for various reasons. There will always be criticism for this or that and there will always be those who gather where someone agrees with them. It’s life. Shrug and go on. Cheesecake? Or peppermint hot chocolate?
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If she were a fan, I’d have had nothing to say. But it seems she isn’t.
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I don’t know WHAT she is. And it doesn’t matter. But if I’m going to be spanked – I’d rather be spanked by a…. never mind.
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I´d rather be spanked by Guy Crispin FitzGisborne 🙂
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OH he’d be good at it to!!!!
(Back to the edit)
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chocolate yule log please, several slices 😉 with whipped cream! and tea 🙂 otherwise with you on this 🙂
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I pray he doesn’t use her as his message platform, I feel like he’ll use his twitter and spread it out over a few tweets.
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One HOPES and prays…
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That would be fine with me. I guess we’ll see what happens.
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What we each do in terms of charity, who we support and so on is an issue of only our own conscience. I find linking media entertainment /gossip or reporting if you will with the misfortunes that happen in the world at every step out of place. Anyway, just confirms for me that it’s probably been a very good thing that the little time i had was spent with friends i’m grateful to still have with me, sharing art that we love and has made a difference (like the Crucible and Botfa), coming up with presents and sharing things with people, etc. Thankfully i spent nearly every spare hour watching RA’s work and nearly none of those hours watching interviews. And the one thing that warmed my heart did not come from any social media or reminder of some exponent of it or media person, but from the one homeless man i always see when i come out of the theatre and i spent some time with the other day. His ‘God bless you’ was the sincerest wish that came my way these days and i hope i may have given some shred of hope back. People who like to preach at others should make better use of their time and go out and do some good of their own and make a real difference.
Anyway, i’m grateful for many things this year and hope many good things will come in the next one too, i feel richer at the end of it than at the beginning and hope many many people will feel the same.
Merry Christmas to all and happy holidays x
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Thank you. same to you.
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And to you as well, Hariclea. Tolerance, inclusion, and compassion are the RA values. I applaud you for supporting and commenting about them!
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I think you may have misunderstood me slightly as i have the same concerns and impressions expressed here. I just don’t have either personal time or inclination to spend much time on things i dislike and that covers all media, i pick and read /watch what i like and because of professional reasons i’m somewhat distrustful about all media in general. I prefer mainstream journalism and have my own concerns about social media influence and so on. My opinions about what i watch and read are my own and in my opinion issues about charity and other social concerns are unrelated to entertainment reporting of any kind. I just make my own decisions about my private social concerns and because the 2 subjects were for me unduly and inappropriately linked I’m not engaging any further as I’m not a particular target audience for certain type of media anyway. I disagree about the linkage so i will not pursue a discussion that has been set up like that but that linkage has alienated me as an already less than very interested audience to a certain type of reporting. I’m just a consumer of media and journalism but only on the side of consuming the art/content itself and this has just brought me back to my original perception of taking everything media with a big pinch of salt and making up my own mind about things.
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Why are you taking this so personally? Why do you think she’s talking about RA fandom at all?? She’s not a RA blogger. I don’t get it. Something bad happened that hit her and made her think seriously about how people treat each other. How is that preaching to other bloggers or twitterers about what they should be concerned about? I just don’t understand what you mean.
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Bravo, NCPAT! I agree.
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She expressly referred to bloggers in her rant. Over the last two days, her work interviewing Richard Armitage, and especially the dual position she’s trying to hold as fan and journalist has been the subject of discussion and criticism. She has never given any published thought to tragedies or disasters before. She is not talking about how people treat each other. Her words are very clear that she is talking about people who write – bloggers and commenters, to be precise. I think it’s fair to put all of that in context and conclude that her remarks are directed to the discussion about her. This blog engaged in that discussion. She is preaching to other bloggers and twitters because of the words she is using. Read here words.
I think your interpretation of her words is somewhat fantastic, especially since she waited several days to even mention Peshawar.
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Laughing out loud: HER rant? What planet are YOU on, Perry?
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You know Marcia, you repeatedly make personal attacks because you are unable to make your argument using facts – the facts that are already in the discussion.
Not once in defending Marlise Boland against legitimate criticism, have you specificly referred to any phrase or opinion that you find objectionable.
You are against the FACT of criticism. In your world you do not brook criticism ( except by you of course, in all the nasty things you say to tangentially RA people on Twitter – I can list them for you chapter and verse.)
So if you want to have this discussion, please start with citing the parts of the blog posts that you find to be bullying, untrue, unwarranted criticism of a personality.
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I have to agree with you on this, Perry. I defended her–not on the legitamite criticism of her journalistic style–but on her intentions and I still don’t see any problem with her ambiguous position. However, her response was very patronizing and passive aggressive, and so I’m disappointed.
I believe both Servetus and Marlise have their own special niche in the fandom and I think both of them take what they do seriously. Too bad Marlise had to dismiss the argument under the banner of “Let’s not be negative and think about the important things in life.”
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I’m not going to get into the specific criticism of Marlise Boland – but what you said about her dismissing the argument by couching it as negativity really rings a bell with me. She referred to anonymous bloggers. If she wanted to clear the record or explain her position, she knew where to find us. We’re not as anonymous as all that – especially Servetus.
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yeah, I’m not anonymous — until last February I was pseudonymous; they are two different things — and certainly, if you wish to know my name it’s not hard to find 🙂 I believe we went through that last year, sigh.
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Why stop now, Perry? You’ve been passively aggressively criticizing her all along! You and Servetus are so delusional.
In my reference to these attacks, I didn’t refer to specific bloggers either. Didn’t want to give you and S.’s blogs the traffic.
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You and Servetus are a pieces of work. How do you think RA would react if he saw this kind of post?From reading his interviews – and messages on RA Online in the past – these latest attacks on Marlise are PRECISELY the kind of in-fighting he abhors. Marlise has a generous heart, a terrific sense of humor, and CARES not only about the artists she interviews, but also about each artist’s faniverse.
I know you both think and Servetus has even called me her publicist. I’m not, of course. I’m just one of thousands of RA fans who love the RA that Marlise is able to reveal. Truly, she shows us RA as we’ve never seen him before.
Don’t you have anything POSITIVE to write about?, especially *this* time of year?
Bless your hearts!
“Belle”
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I’m tempted to begin and end my reply with the idea that ” faniverse” is not a word allowed on this blog.
Second -why does it matter what Richard Armitage thinks of this discussion?
Third,
If Marlise Boland is all those wonderful things you say she is, and they’re probably true, it doesn’t change the fact that as a journalist, how she performs her job is fair comment. Some people don’t like how she does her job vis a vis Richard Armitage interviews, and other facets of her business. I didn’t like what she said to him about fans. What’s wrong with that opinion, other than you may not agree with it?
Isn’t that allowed? To analyze and criticize her work?
Do you think Richard Armitage is against critical thinking and expression of the same?
Are you against critical expression? I read that you think Richard Armitage should fire his management team -that they’re not doing a good job. Isn’t this a criticism of Richard Armitage himself? And on Twitter, no less, not a small blog. What would Richard Armitage think of that?
And anyway, what in-fighting do you mean? Almost all the commenters who have stopped in on my blog and Servetus’s blog, have pretty much agreed with the notion that Marlise Boland is not a fan – she is a journalist whose performance in relation to Richard Armitage is a legitimate basis to critique, praise, criticize her work.
I guess you don’t read this blog, and that’s OK with me – but I think most readers of this blog find it a very positive place.
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We’ve had this discussion off-line. But let me bring it online: There’s a difference between NEWS reporting and ENTERTAINMENT reporting. And entertainment reporters are oh-so-often fans *and* interviewers: YOU CAN – and often ARE – both, or you wouldn’t choose that profession. The beauty of Marlise’s interviews is that she brings out elements of RA we’ve never seen on video before, and he clearly adores being with her.
Are you questioning RA’s decision-making? He knows Marlise better than you. And he trusts her.
Besides, they have FUN. Are you also posting these kinds of entries about Grae Drake? Also a fan and ALSO senior editor of of Rotten Tomatoes? RA clearly enjoys her interviews, and they also have fun together.
No one owns RA. Accept that he adores Marlise.
And, I hope to God his annual holiday message IS communicated through her! Or will you despise her even more if it is?
‘Tis the season, Perry. Lighten up. See if you can write something positive, affirmative and joyous. Or is that too much of a stretch? Bless your heart.
Happy Holidays,
“Belle”
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I’m not going to block you. I’m not going to delete you. I’m just going to let folks see what and how you write in defense of your position. I’m going to let them read the personal attacks on me, and how you keep telling me what to write. And then, maybe i’ll put your arguments together, including the deleted screen shot of the Facebook discussion and rebut them.
And then, you’ll call me a bully .
You are not doing a good job a defending Marlise Boland because you are not pointing to specifics and on these blogs, people are going to call you out on that. All you are saying is that, in general, and for no reason, she should be immune to criticism because you think Richard Armitage likes her
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Calling someone a piece of work is not very positive, affirmative or joyous. Telling people to act a certain way and not acting that way yourself is pretty hypocritical.
I love RA. I do not like Marlise Boland. I don’t think I have to just because RA does. He can like whoever he wants to. And so can I. And so can you. Before her subtle shaming of people, I didn’t really care one way or the other about her. But now I don’t like her at all. I don’t care if her statement was aimed at a certain person or not. I find her statement in general very much like yours. Telling people to be positive and think of others after insinuating that anyone who is not completely positive-which I have yet to find someone who is- is pitiable is ridiculous to me. She didn’t have to put that paragraph in about people who are negative to get her point across.
If you really want to spread love and positivity, you do not need to put others down to do it!
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“He adores Marlise” how can you say that ? Do you know him personally?
I don’t think they are as linked as it sounds, she didn’t get a preferential treatment at the Crucible stage door this summer, neither on the red carpet of the Los Angeles Premiere of BOTFA.
I think we all know how works this kind of Facebook page. The more you have followers, the more you are attractive for publicities, and who said publicity, said money. Sure, Mr. A. with his followers, his very interesting, and It’s in the interest of M. Boland to keep those followers. She certainly cares about them, but M.Boland can be an RA.’ fan she is also a business woman.
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I’ve lived in the South for years, so I know what “bless your heart means” when it’s used ironically.
Does Marlise know you do this on her behalf?
I guess you missed my point this week about why I don’t like the Gospel of Friendship according to Richard Armitage — or as some of my friends call it, sarcastically, “WWRD?” — because it allows just this kind of thing: a fan who disagrees with another fan is given license to come in and police “in the name of Richard” when she actually has no more idea than anyone else what Richard would think, or if he even cares about the specific thing that’s happening. This comment is a perfect demonstration of what I was speaking about. You’re not the first person who’s tried to do this to me — it’s old news. In the end all that means is that anyone who says anything that’s off the beaten path is liable to being verbally stomped into the ground because she says something that someone thinks it’s possible Richard Armitage might disapprove of if he knew about it. But even if he did — Richard Armitage is NOT in the audience for my blog. I do NOT believe, indeed have never believed, that Richard Armitage pays atttention to what I write, and I wonder why you do?
Why are you so worried about anyone criticizing Marlise Boland?
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I never lived in the South. But I frequent Armitageworld, and the discussion of what ” Bless your heart” means when used by a Southern woman has been tossed around in the odd comment. So I learned it there. Thus, I got the irony when it was used against me on the commenter’s Facebook page.
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Well, you misunderstood, Perry, as many do. “Bless your heart” is used as often sincerely here as it is ironically. I meant it genuinely and with my whole heart. Sorry you projected a negative interpretation.
“Belle”
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Readers can make their own assessments of your Bless the Heart. But they won’t know because you deleted the thread and they can’t see it in context.
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I am going to ask Servetus to discuss this with FedoraLady, and see what she has to say about it.
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Yeah, I don’t think I misunderstood what was meant by the expression. “Bless your heart” is something I talked about a lot with students because its potential for ironic employment exemplifies a point that Castiglione makes in _The Book of the Courtier_ about sincerity and manners. It’s not something I say myself but I’ve heard it used regularly in my ambit since 1987 and it can mean about five different things depending on the context.
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Ah, Servetus, but not BEING Suthrn, you clearly don’t realize that “Bless your heart” is JUST as frequently sincere.
No, I don’t include Marlise in these discussions. The careless cruelty could be soul-crushing. And I could never do that to her. See, Servetus, I’m not her publicist, just a person who understands media relations and journalism in the 21st century. And trying to offer a different perspective to the points of view you and Perry express.
This IS meant to be discussed, right? I mean, we are a civilized community in which differing ideas can co-exist? I primarily object to to the bullying aspect of these unkind “analyses.” Especially since you – ironically – have an anti-Cyber-bullying message on your blog.
Sincerely, I wish you happy holidays. And I hope the spirit of the season will open your heart, bless you. And THAT I mean with every bit of my being.
Marcia
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It was just a matter of time, Servetus and I know, before you trotted out the bully word. It’s your M.O., Ive seen it before when you were actually the one bullying and others objected. I saw it on your facebook page t his week when you attacked me for trying to make a point based on your own post and then you attacked me personally. And then you turned that around and accused me of attacking Richard Armitage personally, using words I never wrote. And then you deleted the t
thread – but not until you “bless you”d me.
You can try, but you won’t successfully turn this around – that legitimate discussion and criticism is either bullying ( who has the power here, Marcia) or something that would appall Richard Armitage.
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That’s a fallacious argument. Meaning is a thing that can be known based on knowledge and experience. Understanding the meaning of a phrase does not depend on my identity.
So in other words, you make non-specific personal attacks on people in Marlise’s name without telling her about it?
The thing is: the second you say I can’t criticize something (Marlise or anything else), YOU are the one who is preventing civilized discussion. Critics of Marlise Boland have listed the actual reasons for their dislike of what she does. You and Marlise Boland have stated only that we should not criticize her.
Expressing disagreement over something is not bullying, Marcia, and I wonder if you know why that message is in my sidebar. People who know this fandom and its history know why.
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Check out RA with Marlise. What’s not to LOVE here???
This month:
Teaser: http://youtu.be/NHCzzNBVfSE
Part 1: http://youtu.be/D9nMKHGZ_uA
Part 2: http://youtu.be/SsHk61laSJ4
In February:
Teaser: http://youtu.be/cig5z1e0v5w
1: http://youtu.be/rOfTOoMLcIo
2: http://youtu.be/1cGQSMZysDA
3: http://youtu.be/KrnOndsL10s
Silly bits: http://youtu.be/lvJRykC6aFc
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How clever to link Marlise Boland’s You Tube videos to my blog in order to drive traffic her way! I do invite my readers to try those links if they haven’t already. I think they have though, because they follow Richard Armitage. And I have no problem sending traffic Marlise Boland’s way. I’ve done it time and time again.
What’s not to love? inappropriate touching, uninspired questions, stepping over his answers, telling us too much about your opinion instead of trying to get to his, ignorance of what she’s asking, excessive references to her looks, gushing over him, and purporting to represent the fandom indirectly – and then demeaning them.
If these interviews are good, I don’t think it’s because of Marlise Boland. The best answers came from him turning her questions around, or adding to them.
Then, I didn’t like that when she was the subject of criticism, instead of being professional about it, she posted a ridiculous, moralizing post in response.
So, that’s what not to like.
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LOL! I’ll just say this here: I posted the links so your readers could see the actual interaction between RA and Marlise. Who cares about driving traffic to her site? The important thing is how they respond to each other, and how much thousands of RA fans have enjoyed it. It was just a reminder, not a traffic-generator. MAN, you’re cynical!
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maybe I am cynical about some things. Is that allowed in your version of the Richard Armitage fandom? . All you had to do was link her You Tube Channel link.
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RichardArmitageCentral would not be the ‘perfect choice’ for RA’s Christmas message, if he chooses to send one at all, because it is one of three fan forums that follow him, the others being the Armitage Army and C19, though, unlike RAC, these two don’t have websites attached to them. Sending his message to RAC could generate accusations of being partisan.
Now that Annette’s site isn’t available, the most appropriate recipient, if he decides to send a longer message than 140 characters, would be RichardArmitageNet because it is run on a very similar basis to the late lamented RAOnline.
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Agreed – with you on that one Snowgirl.
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Well i disagree, or, I am clearing this up – RACentral has a fansite. Maybe they also have a forum – but I’m thinking of the fan sit and the repository of all his work.
The message boards are closed and you have to be a member. as far as I know they only publish things on their closed site. So that would be the most unfair.
Net or Central would be fine with me.
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I really miss Richard Armitage Online with every drop of my fan blood, but my position was always that the decision of who should host a Christmas message would be a political nightmare. I’d be okay with almost anything that related to the work of the legacy fans who have been around for close to a decade and who, presumably, are the reason that Armitage said last week that he had a career because of his fans. I really think if he wants to do more than tweet, he should get his own website. Many of his Hobbit colleagues have them.
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Maybe at the end of her ‘interview’ with RA she asked him to say a few words to his ‘fans’ for Christmas, and that’s what he did? It may not be the ‘official’ RA Christmas message – there may not be one? Or there may be another one?
As for other bloggers, etc – Marlise is only one of many who have had their credentials/loyalties/views questioned, including Servetus and Richard Armitage US, many times rightfully so and sometimes not. When it gets down to it, they can all write/argue/blog/report/interview until they’re blue in the face – RA is his own man and no-one but those he chooses in his personal life will have any influence over him and what he does at all.
Maybe everyone should take a deep breath and just stop?
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I never know to answer this sort of comment when I am in the throes of defending myself. But thank you Maggie, for your comment.
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That was my understanding, Maggie — that his “happy holidays one and all” remark was what she meant.
To me, this is a variant on the “be nice” position. Who wants to stop, should stop. Who has something to say, should speak.
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What this discussion boils down to for me is this: are there some people who are above criticism? And why, exactly? Perceived access to RA? MB herself has been critical of other professionals, notably in her long post about Tanya Gold and a sarcastic Tweet about Daniele Rizzo. I find this whole notion that some people get to say whatever they want, whenever they want, and no one else ever gets to call foul because RA might hear about it to be ridiculous. I’m quite capable of making up my own mind without his input.
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I think you hit the nail on the head there Jazzbaby. Why should Marlise feel that she’s above criticism? She has dished it out, but criticism in her direction is “cowardly”? I find that there is an element of truth in most criticism and the only way to better ourselves is to be willing to at least consider how we come across to other people. The “haters gonna hate” attitude is only going to get you so far as a professional trying to build a business. Criticism isn’t fun to hear, but it’s necessary in a competitive business. If Marlise wants the Anglophile Channel to be more than a “one trick pony,” as she’s stated, it would be in her interest to consider what critics are saying.
There seems to be this perception that she & RA are “pals” and I think it’s that “6 degrees of separation” that causes some to rush to her defense without even considering the questions being asked. If she’s his “friend”, and I can be her “friend” then that puts me one step close to Richard Armitage.I think it is a huge ASSUMPTION by some to say that RA “adores” Marlise. I’m not saying he doesn’t like her, but this perception that they’re “besties” is odd. She’s not the only interviewer (or fan for that matter) that the man has been relaxed and flirty with.
I personally believe RA is savy enough to realize what she is about and that she’s using him to make a name for herself. RA has said that when he’s interviewed, he tends to adapt himself to that interviewer’s tone. I think that’s some of what we see in these “chats”. She is unprepared and and silly and he responds in silliness and casual chat.
I believe the special Christmas message she’s teased is probably something she asked him to record during the interview and not HIS Christmas message to fans. He worked hard in the past to ensure that no single site was seen to be given a special endorsement. I would expect, if he posts one this year, it would be done via the fansites that he is aware of. That’s my hope anyway.
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I think “perceived access to RA” is exactly the reason why people want Marlise Boland to be above criticism. I think a lot of the same people follow the idea that they have to think what Richard Armitage thinks and act the way they think Richard Armitage wants them to act. Best and easiest example – the dreaded “Well-wisher,” comment – notwithstanding he never once used that term to refer to fans during either the ITS or BOTFA promotion.
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About the ‘dreaded’ well-wisher comment, RA has just used it in his latest Christmas message posted on Twitter……
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Saw that jut now! LOL.
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I agree with all the commenters who’ve questioned why legitimate criticism of Marlise Boland’s interviews with RA is considered off limits- are no dissenting points of view permissible?
I fail to see how bluster and invective helps answer reasonable questions on the issue, where a calmly stated point of view would actually aid understanding.
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It would certainly help the discussion, but all we get is how much ” he adores her” and how nice she is.
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