Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Bad Form, Star!

Sometimes I just love TMZ.com. This particular time, it's because they've provided so much of the documentation that apparently went back and forth between the Full & Fabulous organization and the infamous Star Jones regarding the scheduled appearance she was supposed to make as part of the organization's 2006 Health, Beauty & Self-Esteem event. As is now well-known, Miss Jones chose to not appear because the organization failed to come up with the balance of her speaking fee of $25,000. According to the the founder of Full & Fabulous, Jones was sent a deposit of $10,000 and an additional payment of $6,000, which she claims she never received. She also apparently accepted first-class plane tickets (which cost the organization more than expected because the original flight booked for Jones and her husband wasn't acceptable and Jones' "people" re-booked the flight and, without the permission of Full & Fabulous, charged the $900 difference to the company's credit card...ewww, tacky) and a five-star hotel room reservation, both of which she reportedly utilized to promote her book and enjoy Super Bowl festivities.

Granted, based on the terms of the contract between the two parties, Jones is apparently under no legal obligation to return any of the money given her. But these young girls, who once looked up to Jones and had worked so hard to help raise the money for her appearance, didn't deserve to be caught in the crossfire of all this drama.

For someone so desperately in need of positive publicity, wouldn't it have perhaps been more prudent to make the appearance anyway, based on the partial payments and perks already received--not to mention the audience being served--then work out the details of the balance after the event, so as not to disappoint the attendees? Even if she'd chosen to toot her own horn afterwards and announce to the world that she, out of the kindness of her heart, had made the appearance despite the organization not meeting their contractual obligation, surely that would've been better than this unforgivable turn of events. No one is expecting her to have shown up for free, or even at a reduced speaking fee (though if she'd chosen to do so, again, that would've been great publicity).

*sigh*

Why wasn't this handled differently??

No comments: