It would be difficult to classify anyone involved in such an enterprise as anything short of a monster. So when Vick, whose probation terms still forbid him from buying, selling or owning a dog, told TheGrio this week that "I would love to get another dog in the future," the notion wasn't exactly greeted with "happiness is a warm puppy" enthusiasm.

Lisa Lange, vice president of PETA, swiftly retorted to the Atlanta Constitution Journal, "Just as convicted pedophiles aren’t allowed free access to children, anyone who is responsible for hanging, electrocuting, or shooting dogs and who causes them to suffer in other unimaginable ways should never again be allowed access to dogs. All things considered, it is a very small price to pay, especially compared to the suffering endured by the dogs who were abused and killed in the Bad Newz Kennels." And commenters on TheGrio were almost unanimous in their opinions. "He should NEVER, EVER be able to own another living creature as long as he lives!" wrote one, while another cracked, "Michael Vick loves his dogs so much that he beat them, electrocuted them, drowned them."

But Vick, who has voluntarily been doing outreach for the Humane Society and speaking out against dogfighting since his release from prison, said, "I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love, and my passion for animals."

For many, that sentiment of love is too little, too late, and even Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle wrote in his blog this week, "It's too soon for Michael Vick to have a dog. Pet-keeping is a privilege and he lost that privilege when he committed atrocious acts of cruelty in the months and years before his arrest in 2007." But Pacelle added, "If a perpetrator serves time and gets counseling, and if they show they can be an upstanding member of society, then maybe, under the right circumstances and after several years of not being allowed to have a pet, then they could have their pet-keeping privileges reinstated. Where the human-animal bond has been broken, we want it to be restored."

When it comes to broken trust, sorry isn't the hardest word to say; forgiveness is. The Internet and the relentless 24-hour news cycle make it all too easy to keep ripping open old wounds, to remind us of the crimes of the past, especially crimes that impact society at large. If Tiger Woods cheats on his wife or Amy Winehouse gets drunk at home, we can have an opinion but don't get a say in their private failings. When the sin is greater, atonement is harder. We can wonder, rightly, whether a Chris Brown is once an abuser, always an abuser, or whether Vince Neil should be ever allowed behind the wheel.  We can forever define public figures by their worst crimes -- their drunk driving escapades, their financial misdeeds, their stunning cruelties.

Yet sustained outrage benefits no one. And while the unrepentant and the demonstrably unreformable don't deserve second or third chances, society has to allow for the possibility of redemption. If Michael Vick is always going to be that dogfighting guy, what's his incentive to not be? What was the point of his jail term and current volunteer work? If we forever treat people like the person they were at their lowest, most despicable moments, how can we expect them not to believe that's who they are, and behave accordingly? As Pacelle wrote, "We must be open to the possibility that rehabilitation is possible, and faithful to our hope that people can change." And if we believe in and support the abundant goodness of businesses that include "humane" in their names, we have to believe that word is as applicable to people, even people like Michael Vick, as it is to animals.

So thank God for Twitter, YouTube and every other medium that exists to remind us that no matter how famous a person is, no matter big his comic book collection may be, he can still screw up and melt down like the rest of us slobs. And thank you, Nicolas Cage.

In a boon for YouTube addicts across the world, Cage, who is currently in Romania filming the incredibly necessary sequel to "Ghost Rider," lost his cool during a squabble outside a Bucharest nightclub Sunday morning. His expletive-riddled, inevitably recorded tirade -- featuring such instantly quotable lines as "Go for it, brother," "I'll fucking die because of honor," and "See my eyes?" -- turned up on the local news. And faster than you can say "Mel Gibson," the freakout was going viral.

Cage now joins an elite group of notable celebrity hotheads whose meltdowns are now inexorably part of their personae. David O. Russell just racked up six Golden Globe nominations for "The Fighter," including best director, but who can think of him without remembering him calling Lily Tomlin, among other things, a "fucking bitch" while trashing the set on "I Heart Huckabees"?  Speaking of "The Fighter," the lives of a legion of YouTube remixers would be much poorer without Christian Bale's legendary meltdown on the set of "Terminator Salvation." Bale is a respected thespian. He's also the man who made "We're fucking done professionally, fucking ass" the go-to workplace quote of the decade if not eternity. And when a long-lost clip of Bill O'Reilly bellowing, "We'll do it live! WE'LL DO IT LIVE, FUCK IT!" moments before introducing a clip of Sting for "Inside Edition," it was over 8 million YouTube hits of pure anger-management schadenfreude.

The celebrity flip out, like the unfortunate celebrity sex tape, is weirdly, endlessly compelling because it gives us, the unwashed hoi polloi, the illusion of having something over on the people who have everything. That guy on the cover of People may just have bought his own island in the Caribbean, but it doesn't make him any less ridiculous than the rest of us. In fact, to anyone who's never yelled, "You should just fucking smile, and blow me!" it might make him considerably more.

The relentless tabloid appetite for a money shot of a movie star with a finger up her nose, and those big payouts for incriminating voice mails, must eventually affect anyone in the public eye. Our stars have as much right to scratch their butts and chew with their mouths open as the rest of us. They're still human and imperfect. And the really tragic falls from grace, the sad displays of sustance abuse or mental illness, are made all the more harsh by the glare of attention.

But there's something about a really epic display of plain old bad behavior that satisfies. It seems so out of touch and ungrateful in the midst of all the privilege that it's not just remix-ready odd -- it's almost comforting. As the gap between rich and poor gets wider and deeper and ever more haves live separate lives from a swelling pool of have-nots, a little freakout now and then suggests that even somebodies don't have everything. It makes them seem foolish and angry and unhappy. A minor loss of dignity for Nicolas Cage doesn't mean an  uptick in dignity for the rest of the world, but it's ever so slightly empowering. And if any other Academy Award winners feel close to the hair trigger on a set or outside a nightclub any time soon, go for it brothers. We could use the relief.

The actor -- whom none of the sides would name -- said that he had been directed to do so as part of the scene. Mr. Birch objected, saying that the back rub was unnecessary, and told the actor to stop. …When the actor tried to explain further what he was doing, Mr. Birch said, according to [director Paul] Alexander: "Listen, man, I'm trying to make this easier on you -- don't touch her."

Her father denies making any threats and says he was just "trying to convey Thora's discomfort" at the on-stage touching. He's also been a "frequent presence at 'Dracula' rehearsals," writes Healy. "At another point during Thursday's rehearsal, Mr. Alexander said he noticed Mr. Birch peering through a window that was part of a library set while a scene with Ms. Birch was underway. 'I couldn't believe my eyes and turned to a crew member and said, 'Is that Jack Birch looking through the window at Thora?'"

The director isn't the first person in the business to insinuate that there is something a bit off about Birch's father: As the New York Daily News reported in 2008, he "insisted on being on set during the filming of a hot and heavy sex scene" and "reportedly told the director where to put the camera so Birch would look her best, and gave the thumbs up sign through out the taping."

Who knows how fair these particular characterizations are, but one thing is for sure: Creepy stage dads are having a moment -- from Jessica Simpson's father remarking on the singer's "double D's" to Billy Ray's oddly intimate nuzzling with daughter Miley Cyrus to Amy Winehouse's dad complimenting her "fantastic" breasts to Hulk Hogan slathering up his little princess in suntan oil (and dating her doppelganger). Just as with the more familiar archetype of the scary stage mom, creepy stage dads attempt to build their own fortunes and fame on top of their children; unlike the scary stage mom, creepy stage dads seem to also want to be on top of their children, literally. But is one actually creepier than the other? I'm not so sure. After all, both tend to live through their daughter's sexuality -- because that's how most young starlets achieve their fame.

When Travolta first became a sex symbol 35 years ago, there was no such thing as an openly gay star. Good God, even Liberace played it coy. But in ensuing, more enlightened years, performers who began their careers more circumspectly have transitioned gracefully into successful post-closet careers. It's not as if Ian McKellen and Ellen DeGeneres are hurting for work. And a whole new generation of stars have proven that audiences can fall in love with a smarmy womanizer like "How I Met Your Mother's" Barney Stinson and adore the openly gay Neil Patrick Harris.

Yet the closet -- and the rumors of which big stars inhabit it -- persists. A man like Travolta isn't some bachelor clinging to the story he's "keeping the private life private" with all the tenacity of a CNN anchor. He's a man with a wife and family, a guy whose new son was just born three weeks ago. Professionally, he may don a dress to play Edna Turnblad, but his roles are likelier to be manly man action heroes. And as a Scientologist, he's also a member of a group that defines homosexuality as a "deviation." 

Unlike Gawker's source, Robert Randolph, who told them last month that he'd witnessed Travolta in flagrante in the steam room multiple times, I have no claim to what Travolta does in his personal life. It's possible Carrie Fisher has some evidence beyond her "We know," but she hasn't elaborated. But the response -- to both her and Travolta -- have been divisive and telling. "Why does this worthless drug addict find it necessary to out John Travolta for her own publicitary gains? It's a despicable act," wrote one commenter on Advocate.com. Another  cheered, "I support the outing of anyone who goes about pretending to be what they are not!"

You don't have to look far to see that we still have miles and miles and then a few light-years to go before we are living a homophobia-free culture. For many, the penalties for being gay or even being suspected of being gay are steep and terrifying. Those of us who will never have to be afraid of risking our careers, our relationships with our loved ones, or our very lives can't know what that feels like.

But by the same token, it's tragic that the implication someone is gay is still, in the words of Travolta's lawyers, defamatory, and that the word "gay" is still used as a slur.  Ellen DeGeneres has often spoken of how she lost everything when she came out. But she got it all back with heavy interest, because living a life that's dishonest isn't just corrosive to the soul; it makes it that much harder for everybody else still standing somewhere between the closet and the big wide world. It's a risk I'll never have to take, and it makes me appreciate it profoundly when others do. And many, many audiences, gay and straight, have proven again and again that they will feel likewise for any star who does.

Was Carrie Fisher wrong to boldly state what's been whispered for the last three decades? Is outing a question of violating someone's privacy, or shining a light on hypocrisy? As difficult as it is to reconcile, the truth is that it's frequently both. It's not wrong to be gay. But being dishonest is a crappy way to live – mostly for the person doing the deceiving. (It's no picnic for the person's children, either.) And while I'm mostly in agreement with Fisher's "don't care" about Travolta or anyone else's habits per se, imagine how many fewer skeletons the world would have if more people took a chance and realized they didn't need their closets.  And what better incentive can we give to actors and anchors and musicians than to tell them, there are so many of us standing right outside, waiting to applaud?