Tag: clay aiken

Penn Jillette v. Clay Aiken — Does Art Beat Money?

Two weeks ago on Celebrity Apprentice, Penn Jillette had a fight with Clay Aiken about a fundraising task which involved Jillette’s very well-known Vegas friends and performers, Blue Man Group. In short, Blue Man Group agreed to donate eight thousand dollars, but they delivered it by popping a money-filled-balloon at the end of their performance, which resulted in some of the money being lost to random people on the street. Aiken was furious at the lost money, and he basically called Jillette ridiculous for the entire idea. After reading Jillette’s incredibly moving and well-written article on the Huffington Post about what happened, I’m officially in love with him. He described his love of art as more powerful than his love of money, and he detailed his struggle in explaining that to Trump and Aiken, saying, “Trying to explain to Donald Trump that beauty and art can be more important than money is like trying to explain to Donald Trump that beauty and art can be more important than money.” He also said that this was the “episode where Donald Trump understood that he didn’t understand me, and feeling misunderstood by Donald Trump and Clay Aiken is its own kind of joy.” Wow. Here’s hoping I can interview Penn Jillette one day.

Keith Olbermann Suspended — He’s a Democrat — Who Knew?

Keith Olbermann was suspended for making political donations to the democratic party, and many consider it laughable that anyone doubted Olbermann’s democratic standing. I have mixed feelings about this. First, it would be nice to assume that talking heads form their opinions on an issue-by-issue basis, instead of blindly supporting their party. But as Jon Stewart pointed out in his infamous Crossfire interview, that assumption is incorrect. The truth is that talking heads support their party, and they will champion any issue based on their party line. Apparently, MSNBC would like to present Mr. Olbermann as non-partisan, as a way to uphold their brand. I obviously think Olbermann does a better job of hiding any bias than someone like Bill O’Reilly or the certifiable Glenn Beck.  But with or without the donation — it’s clear where he stands. That being said, there were still people out there that doubted Clay Aiken’s sexual orientation up until the day he came out of the closet. Translation? — Without Olbermann’s donation, perhaps some people still thought he was “straight” — or Republican. Forgive me — I’m terrible with analogies.