How to get arrested on the Red Carpet...

Ok, yes, I admit it. I nearly got arrested last night at the premiere of "Precious" starring Mariah Carey, Monique, Gabby Sidibe -- exec produced by Oprah, Tyler Perry. A gut-wrenching story of abuse and a young woman's journey to get away from a monster of a mother. Amazing story, brilliantly directed by Lee Daniels.

You can imagine the red carpet: bustling with stars, a near-block-long-line of paparazzi. EXTRA had the first position. Sweeeet! So that means all the stars came right to me after being blinded by the flashes of the still photogs.

Now, this was Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where, unless they shut the street down, it's generally a tight fit with all the photos and press, and there is always a barricade to keep the press seperate from the stars on the carpet.

It was a fun yet busy premiere, Paula Patton (who plays a pivotal teacher role in the film) and her husband, singer Robin Thicke... Gabby, all glammed up, and enjoying every second of her new-found notoriety... and then Mariah made the scene with husband Nick Cannon.

Mariah always comes to play... She's more down-to-earth than you might think. But, that said, she likes her "lighting" to be just soooo... When she walked up to me, she "found her light" (provided by the spotlights that the theatre puts up all along the carpet), but she was, like, TEN FEET away from me...

I had to go on the OTHER side of the barricade and greet her, then bring her closer to me... Keep in mind, I am about a FOOT from where I HAD been standing BEHIND the barrier, but now JUST in front of it. We do our thing... have a great interview, lengthy by red carpet standards... and then they go on down the carpet.

ALL OF A SUDDEN, out of nowhere, a big dude, plus the FIRE MARSHALL swoop in and start talking to us like we've just committed the crime of the century by stepping a few inches from where we were. I had never seen this particular Fire Marshall at a premiere before. After SO many years of doing this, I know most of them, and if there is a misstep, they might gently warn us, then we have a laugh and the night goes on.

THIS guy was serious... a little TOO serious... if I had to guess, and I am, I would say a little "drunk on power" to treat us the way he did. My producer Mark was dumbfounded by it, and Ken and Stacey, my camera and sound guys -- ALL of us having done this for years -- just tried to calm the guy down... but he YELLED to put the camera down, SHUT UP, and LEAVE the red carpet, or else we would be fined $1,000 dollars AND get arrested...

Lucky for us, the only two people who hadn't shown up were Oprah and Tyler Perry and they arrived WHILE this was going on, but they were in a mass of people, and did NO interviews with anyone.

Let it be known, this incident had nothing to do with AFI (American Film Institute) at whose festival this film was premiering... nor Lionsgate, the studio producing the film. This simply was a Fire Marshall who was, granted, sticking by the book and doing his job, but there's a way to get the job done without unnecessary threats and intimidation.

I was simply doing my job, too, by trying to get the interview.