Hilary Duff Gets the Last Laugh (thanks, Elbert!)
Just when you might have thought that America was the land of culture and good taste, we get this bomb dropped on us:
She may only be 15 years old, but Hilary Duff has Disney by the mouse ears.
The teenage phenom has the number one album in the country this week, and it's on Disney's moribund Hollywood Records. The last time Hollywood Records had a hit, let alone a number one, either Queen Victoria was governing the British Empire or "Oklahoma" was debuting on Broadway.
Duff is also the star of Disney's "Lizzie McGuire" franchise. But she almost wasn't earlier this summer when talks between the studio and Duff's mom/agent broke off during a disagreement over money. Disney chief Michael Eisner had put former ABC boss Bob Iger in charge of renegotiating Duff's deal after the success of "The Lizzie McGuire Movie." But the two sides fell out over a reported $500,000 bonus that Duff's side wanted whether or not the "Lizzie McGuire" sequel did well.
Ultimately Eisner asked both sides back to the bargaining table, and Duff wound up getting what she wanted. Now Duff's "Metamorphosis" record has made it to number one after two weeks and sales of about 300,000 copies.
That's right, y'all; we're a nation of philistines who tastes are being determined by teenage girls. Will someone please just shoot me??
