What are the odds of a celebrity having car trouble and getting a ride home from a paparazzi? Slim to none, right? Well that’s exactly what happened to Hugh Grant this past Christmas holiday. His car broke down and when a friendly commuter stopped to help, it turned out to be ex tabloid phone hacker Paul McMullan. Grant’s relief that someone stopped to help was short lived though as McMullan quickly pulled out his camera and started snapping photos of Grant and the car.
Ultimately Grant accepts the ride and a conversation ensues between the two over the legitimacy of phone hacking. McMullan defended the practice stating he felt it made for a safer society, a form of covert checks and balances. Having had his phones bugged and conversations eavesdrop on Grant wasn’t at all amused.
It seems the story would have ended there had McMullan not used the incident as a chance to sell the photos and story of his run in with Grant to the tabloids. Hence, Grant took up McMullan on an offer to meet again in the future as a chance to exact his revenge.
For the meeting Grant chose to wear a wire and record their conversation to give McMullan a taste of his own medicine. During their chat McMullan disclosed just how widespread a practice bugging the phones of celebrities and politicians was at the News of the World tabloid. A couple political big wigs also found their names brought up in the recordings such as prime minister David Cameron’s dealings with news mogul Rupert Murdoch. Even British royalty had their lines bugged, McMullan recalls listening on the conversations of Prince Charles with a cheap store bought radio scanner.
Grant goes on to publish the entirety of the conversation in an op-ed piece for The New Statesman.
What do you think, was he right to turn the tables on the paparazzi and give him a taste of his own medicine?
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