Friday
Nov022007
Speaking of Negative Portrayals of African American Women in Popular Culture:Star Jones..WHY? WHY? WHY?
Friday, November 2, 2007 at 6:15PM The Blogmother
Why Star Whyyyy? I am constantly giving Star the benefit of the doubt because I think we sometimes judge her too harshly, but short changing overweight girls? That just hurts my heart. You MUST see this video from WXYZ (WTH?) in Detroit. This is a package about the ridiculousness that popped off when a group of overweight Black girls wanted her to appear at their event.
If you thought THAT video was bad, wait until you see what happens when Star wants to kick this reporter out of her office. Just cut them a check Star and walk away.
I used to be the chair of the speakers' bureau in undergrad so I know how much these celebrities charge and the $30,000 isn't out of line, but we didn't do riders. We cut you or the agency ONE check. If you want to fly first class, take it out of your check. If you want a hotel, book it yourself. The only thing we provided was transportation and you would DIE if you knew who got rides to and from the airport in my Geo Metro. We picked Johnny Cochran up in my best friend's daddy's town car. Oh the stories I could tell.
FYI. If you want moi to speak at your event, no need to pay $30,000 I can beat that. Yes, I will fly coach, and no need to put me up in a swanky hotel, La Quinta will do just fine. Book me now before I blow up like Star and start demanding that a tub of Popeye's red beans and rice waiting for me in baggage claim.
If you thought THAT video was bad, wait until you see what happens when Star wants to kick this reporter out of her office. Just cut them a check Star and walk away.
I used to be the chair of the speakers' bureau in undergrad so I know how much these celebrities charge and the $30,000 isn't out of line, but we didn't do riders. We cut you or the agency ONE check. If you want to fly first class, take it out of your check. If you want a hotel, book it yourself. The only thing we provided was transportation and you would DIE if you knew who got rides to and from the airport in my Geo Metro. We picked Johnny Cochran up in my best friend's daddy's town car. Oh the stories I could tell.
FYI. If you want moi to speak at your event, no need to pay $30,000 I can beat that. Yes, I will fly coach, and no need to put me up in a swanky hotel, La Quinta will do just fine. Book me now before I blow up like Star and start demanding that a tub of Popeye's red beans and rice waiting for me in baggage claim.
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Reader Comments (23)
What is up with Star??? I hope she returns the money. That was not right. Her actions are definitely tantamount to fraud.
What about her explanation for not showing up?
Star might not be able to return the money.
Star (who by the way, attends my NY church) seems to have a serious problem with materialism. I don't think that she is a bad person per se, but needs to take a hard look at how she values and handles money.
Anybody who wears a tiara at every public opportunity, tirelessly and shamelessly plugs for freebies when she can well afford to pay, and had a wedding larger than princess Diana's, needs a family intervention moderated by Suze Orman.
That being said, my lecture prices are cheap, but I only fly business class, lol.
Star (who by the way, attends my NY church) seems to have a serious problem with materialism. I don't think that she is a bad person per se, but needs to take a hard look at how she values and handles money.
But she mentioned that in the first video, what was it now, my memory fails me, and I cannot sit through it again, something about....oh now I cannot be coherent without watching that thing again. I shall be back.
Okay I watched it again. Star says every sunrise offers an opportunity and she believes you should snatch that opportunity and get the grandest wedding one can possible get! LOL!
I thought Star Jones had changed her ugly ways. I guess not. *SMH*
NOw now. Shecodes, The airlines I fly only have ONE class maybe two. on Southwest, you are lucky to get in Boarding group A. I'll NEVER fly Frontier again after that DC trip.
Kitty,
Star says that there are two sides to this story. Let's hope so.
I never understood Americas fascination with Star Jones. Never liked her.
And from all accounts, the Black lady who was just hired on "the view" seems just as annoying. I saw a news clip of the show a few months back from her first week...where she is talking about her love for guys in prison or some similar nonsense... I had to change the channel.
Where do they look for these women? There certainly has to be better choices out there. There are plenty of decent examples...
On a side note...
Alicia Keys has come out in support of street thug NAS and his use of the N-word as an album title. (yet I have her on video on another occasion saying that she doesn't like the word or the use of the word... go figure). That's the playing of both sides that she does so well...(so many Famous Black women are doing the same thing...in fact, a lot of Black women in general do the same).
I guess it must have been her beauty that captivated me... I wonder what it was that I used to like about that woman. Her music was never all that great to me. Her talent was interesting (because you don't often see it in todays "music" industry)...but the end product was never that impressive.
I think that's why I hate Black celebrities as much as I do in general. (Their playing of both sides...)
I'm pro-Star Jones. TMZ.com is misleading you.
TMZ "conveniently" posted the contract after 6pm on Friday. The non-profit agency breached the contract. They were not able to come up with Star's fee. The contract clearly stated that ALL monies are due prior to the event. They were late on two payment due dates and ultimately could not come up with ALL the money. Her agency brockered the deal. So, they're responsible for the enforcement of the contract.
Star's people tried to work with this group but were mislead and LIED too regarding this agency's ability to pay her fee. While I feel bad for this non-profit organization, I think they were foolish. They could have gotten someone else for far cheaper. Nobody forced them to sign that contract. And nobody forced them to book Star.
Given that these were young Black women who found a way to feel good about their full figured selves-not easy- and who apparently idolized her, I think she should have been willing to work with what they could offer. I think her worship of material things is obscene.
Speaking of worship, I mean no disrespect to any of you, but I must say that this Star Jones thing exemplifies why I am so suspicious of the religious. I don't care if you're talking about Christianity, Islam, Judaism; I'm sick of people who talk a good game about their "relationship with God" but who can't negotiate a no brainer moral conundrum like this. I personally think that Jesus would support sliding scale fee arrangements to accomodate doing good work for people who don't happen to have 30k lying around. From my perspective she can take her brand of christianity and shove it.
You can pick up any old magazine or newspaper and find some piece about an ordinary white housewife of woman doing something heroic to help poor kids or others in need. You don't see stories like that about black women that often. I'm sure that there are some sisters out there who are feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, you know - doing what they can to alleviate the suffering. But do you hear abou them - NO.
But let a black woman show out like this and the media raises a big stink about it. They can't find the hero - but they can find the she-devil
Hey Makeda,
You made excellent points. Thank you...
And newgirl448, I do have to speak up and say that while there are plenty of examples of materialistic religious people, it PALES in comparison to greedy NON-religious people... and those types feel absolutely no guilt about it at all.
Moreover, while a few avaricious televangelists get front-and-center spotlight in the media, the reality is that ordinary religious people give more to the poor and do more charitable work that atheists do, any day, any time.
Mini-rant:
I think "The View" is the most asinine show on television. (Okay, well at least in the top 10). It almost makes me embarrassed to be a woman. Couldn't they find ONE intelligent, sane woman for that panel?
And what's with all of the comediennes? None of them are even funny. I have never been able to watch that show in it's entirety.
I think the WAOD roundtable regulars would rock The View's world in ratings, if they had the guts to put it on television...
Hi Shecodes:
Thank you for your comments. I would say first that at least the "greedy non-religious people" are being honest. They love their cars and their money more than they care about anything else and-as objectionable as that is-they are up front about that. They are not lying to you.
My problem with the Star Joneses of the world is that they are front and center about strong religious beliefs but don't appear to have the basic morality required to be taken seriously. They claim one thing and act in another. They are frauds.
Now, for the record, the opposite of non-religious is NOT atheism. Spirituality(a connection to God) and religiosity (practices related to connecting to God)can exist together or (as in the case of the televangelists you mentioned) be entirely mutually exclusive of one another. Comming from a city with a sizeable homeless population, I can tell you that there are deeply spiritual people who aren't in church on Sunday because they are passing out sandwiches in the park to the needy. I believe that God would approve and that their belief in God is their reason for being out there. I am not an atheist and neither are these people. We just understand the quality difference between hallelujah Sundays, loud/empty proclamations about being saved, and actually living a Christ like existence. My only point is that I'm sick of the religious rhetoric from people who clearly don't understand that difference.
Hi newgirl448,
I share your disgust with hypocrisy in the church, (read my post from last week on this blog).
However, I still have to say that it is the religious, who are doing the lion's share of the charitable works out there. Some are 'spiritual' and others are not, but it's the church-going, bible-thumpin Catholics, Baptists, organized religious types who are doing the heavy lifting in the charitable works dept.
In Star's defense, Page Six posted this story about the woman making these claims:
November 3, 2007 -- STAR Jones is being dissed in Detroit for not showing up at a 2006 Super Bowl weekend charity event - but the woman making the claim is a financial train wreck who never coughed up the dough to pay for the celebrity gig.
Bankrupt Motown businesswoman Sharon DuMas-Pugh, director of a nonprofit called Full & Fabulous, told Detroit TV station WXYZ this week that Jones promised to give an "empowerment" talk to overweight girls but blew it off. Instead, she claims, Jones used charity-supplied plane tickets to "come to town for book signings and a fashion show with Holly Robinson Peete - on our dime."
But according to the event contract obtained by Page Six, DuMas-Pugh agreed back in April 2005 to pay Jones' standard $25,000 speaking fee and pay for first-class airline tickets and a five-star hotel room. A $10,000 deposit was due that August. Just weeks before the Super Bowl, DuMas-Pugh still hadn't come up with any money - and Jones agreed to extend the deadline.
"This was something I was really looking forward to doing, so I gave them as much time as I could, because I thought they were making an effort. But they clearly had breached the contract," Jones told The Post's Jeane MacIntosh.
DuMas-Pugh, who started her group 25 years ago, isn't exactly a financial whiz. IRS records show that her charity, which solicits donations via its Web site, has never filed a tax return, though it's required to by law.
And after running up $74,000 in debt, DuMas-Pugh declared personal bankruptcy in 2005. In the filing, she claimed to be "unemployed," making just $3,500 a year as a "casual" consultant. Her charity co-director also has filed for personal bankruptcy.
In late January 2006, DuMas-Pugh, who was charging $100 a head for Jones' keynote luncheon speech, finally came through with the deposit. Jones then gave the group until the day before the event to get the rest and boarded the plane for Detroit. But the money never materialized.
"So," says Jones, "I did not show up. That part is the truth."
Now DuMas-Pugh says she's going after Jones for $20,000, and Jones says she's hurt by what she calls an attempted "shakedown," adding, "I am devastated that these young women were misled, [but] they were misled not by me but by their own director."
Hey Ms Thang,
.
Thanks for the info! Question: did Star give the 10,000 back? Is she obligated to?
Whatever the contract said, if I was given 10g's, and the folk clearly didn't have the money to pay the rest, I would have given the deposit back. Is that what happened? I hope so..
@shecodes
I don't know. But like most standard contracts deposits are non-refundable in this industry. So, I'm assuming she did not.
Look, Star could have booked another engagement and made 30K. So, she lost out on other opportunities waiting for these folks to get themselves together.
Why is she charging so much to be a guess speaker at an event for a non-profit organization that helps young Black girls with building self-esteem??? $17,000, hotel and 1st class plane tickets should have been enough for her to appear.
IRS records show that her charity, which solicits donations via its Web site, has never filed a tax return, though it's required to by law.
***********
WTH??? I cannot believe that anyone in this country can get away with not filing a tax return in 25 years. That is ridiculous.
AM: I agree.
There is absolutely nothing that Star Jones (or any celebrity, IMHO) can say that is worth 30 grand to me.
Now if she was representing me in court, fine. But 30,000 for a pep talk?! Shame on everyone involved...
Gawd... would someone make this woman go away? She is ridiculous.
I think I'm on to something. A "Somebody Make These People Go Away" list. So far, Profit-tess Bynum, Bishop Tommy the Hit Man Weeks, Star Jones are on the list. More names to follow as I continue to develop it.