Stars Pressure TV Shows to Nix Ledger Drug Video

"People were upset that they were sensationalizing a two-year-old video. They thought it was irresponsible to hurt people who were already hurting," she said.

In a message to celebrities, publicists and studio executives, Ledger's publicists implored them to contact "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" and object to the video being aired.

"Tonight 'Entertainment Tonight/The Insider' are previewing an extremely distasteful segment regarding Heath Ledger," reads the e-mail sent out on Wednesday. "The segment centers around a two-year-old video ET purchased for a large sum of money in the hopes of stirring up a salacious and exploitive story about Heath, which would win them big ratings on the first day of sweeps. The two outlets did not even have the courtesy to wait until after Heath's burial to broadcast this segment. They intend to air the full segment tomorrow.

"For the sake of his grieving family and friends, his child, and common decency, we hope to pressure 'Entertainment Tonight' and 'The Insider' to do the right thing and pull the spot. This is not journalism, it is sensationalism."

The email was provided to ABC News by Bush.

The spokesperson for "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" did not respond to calls and emails from ABC News as to whether the programs had been contacted by celebrities or about whether they would have aired the entire video. In both cases they referred back to their original statement.

Industry observers told ABC News that despite the issue of taste, the show may have been trying not to burn bridges with celebrities they hoped to interview in the future.

"There probably was tremendous pressure from Heath's camp not to run the video and the issue of it being in 'bad taste,'" said Michael Musto, gossip columnist for the Village Voice, via e-mail. "Entertainment Tonight probably didn't want to suffer the backlash of people claiming this was gross exploitation — though every one of those people would have tuned in to watch. A show like that treads very carefully, needing constant access to stars and their handlers in order to stay in business."

Channel 9 in Australia would not confirm to ABCNews.com that it, too, owned the rights to the video and that it would air it in its entirety, but said a number of networks there had been showing the teaser aired by ET and "The Insider."