Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog

I’m not the only one who’s noticed tabloid website RadarOnline’s single-minded obsession with my client Mel Gibson (see my last post here). The Los Angeles Times wrote about it just the other day. But I believe I am the first to notice this curious connection: David J. Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, which owns RadarOnline, has personally given $4000 to Rahm Emanuel’s campaigns over the years, and $14,350 to Emmanuel pal Harry Reid and the Nevada Democratic Party this year alone, according to FEC records.

As you may know, Rahm Emmanuel - President Obama’s Chief of Staff - happens to be the brother of Ari Emanuel, CEO of the William Morris Endeavor (WME) agency, who fired Mel Gibson as a client last week. Ari (often referred to as the model for Entourage’s Ari Gold) famously has gone on the record castigating Mel Gibson for his anti-semitic remarks.

Update: Some have doubted any direct link between RadarOnline and Ari Emanuel’s William Morris Endeavor, so my crack research staff figured it out:  Remember Octomom? In August, 2009, Fox aired a special called “Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage.”  According to Entertainment Weekly, the show was produced by Craig Piligian, and based on exclusive footage shot by RadarOnline. Guess who’s Pilian’s agent? None other than Sean Perry - who heads up the reality show division at William Morris Endeavor. In other words, WME and RadarOnline have been in bed before, and both of them now have their fingerprints all over the Gibson scandal.

Of course, anyone who’s read my book, I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans knows full well that I had a bit of an altercation with Rahm Emmanuel at the third presidential debate during the ‘08 campaign. But if you’d read further, you’d also know that I myself am a loyal client of the William Morris Endeavor agency, and they represented me on my book deal. So I certainly don’t want to demean WME’s integrity in any way or say anything libelous about the powerful and handsome Emanuel brothers (despite the fact that they have still not attached their client Ben Affleck to a feature film where he would play me!).

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying there’s some sort of vast Jewish conspiracy against Mel Gibson. Of course not. (Since I’m half-Jewish myself, I wouldn’t know which side of the conspiracy to be on.) But as I said before: This does strike me as some sort of delayed cultural payback for Mr. Gibson exercising his freedom of expression for his film “The Passion of the Christ.” In any case, it’s worth remembering what my old friend Deep Throat once told Woodward and Bernstein: Follow the money.

PS: I’d wager that John Edwards would also be mighty curious to see the connection between the National Enquirer and Rahm Emanuel. You’ll recall that it was the Enquirer that nearly got a Pulitzer for exposing Edwards’ indiscretions during the ‘08 campaign. Coincidence? Or just plain chance.

I’m finding that representing a titan of American entertainment like Mel Gibson can be quite challenging for a contrition crisis management consultant such as myself.  While it’s gratifying to see that certain gossipy websites like HollyScoop are responsibly covering the story, there are other less reputable sites such as RadarOnline who continually try to pour gasoline on the inflammatory personal life of Mr. Gibson. I had my own run-in with Radar when one of their so-called reporters, wrote this to my assistant Danny the other day:

Please contact me on 323 658 2xxx

Danny replied:

From: Danny [mailto:daniel.sadler@eisenstadtgroup.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 12:31 PM
To: Renfrew, Cliff
Subject: Cliff - thanks for the email…

Cliff - Sorry, but I’m not authorized to speak directly to reporters myself. But if you’re interested in speaking with my boss, Martin Eisenstadt, CEO of the EisenstadtGroup, I’m happy to pass on the message and have him call you. thanks, Danny

To which the curt Cliff replied:

I do not think you guys are legitimate please call me asap 323 658 2xxx.

 Cliff Renfrew

So I did. I left a nice message on Mr. Renfrew’s answering machine, and despite my busy travel days (as you can imagine, it’s been a little hectic around the office), I dictated the following email, which Danny promptly sent from my account:

From: MartyEisenstadt [mailto:martin@eisenstadtgroup.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 2:50 PM
To: Renfrew, Cliff
Cc: daniel.sadler@eisenstadtgroup.com
Subject: Cliff - re: Mr. Gibson

Cliff - per your request, I just left a message on your phone.  Forgive me, I’m traveling today, and Danny had a hard time reaching me earlier.

 

As for your email, I must say that to hear a tabloid site that’s been trafficking in unconfirmed audiotapes from Mr. Gibson questioning MY legitimacy gave me a little chuckle.  But I respect your chutzpah and I’m happy to answer your questions.

 

As to the issue at hand, we think those accusing Mr. Gibson show that this is another example of the Hollywood and Washington elites misreading the mood of the country. I find it a curious coincidence that the release of these alleged tapes was timed to the death of Mr. Gibson’s longtime agent Ed Limato, followed closely by Ari Emanuel’s swift dismissal of Mr. Gibson from the William Morris Endeavor agency.  The nature of Mr. Emanuel’s fraternal relationship with President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, only makes me think that this has nothing to do with a man having a heated discussion with his child’s Russian mother.  Rather, this strikes me as some sort of delayed cultural payback for Mr. Gibson exercising his freedom of expression for his film “The Passion of the Christ.”  After making untold millions for his agency and for his friends in the Hollywood elite, it is sad to see their galling lack of gratitude and loyalty to him.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Sincerely,

Martin Eisenstadt

CEO & Founder, EisenstadtGroup

ME:ds

To which Mr. Renfrew of the esteemed RadarOnline replied even more curtly:

It doesn’t.

Now I’ve dealt with plenty of ochre-tinted journalists in my days in Washington, and I certainly hold no grudges against anyone who plies in the murky waters of gossip, innuendo and rumor - I wouldn’t have a career in this town if I did.  In fact, some of my best friends in Washington are so-called gossip columnists like Patrick Gavin of Politico, or Nikki Schwab of the Examiner and even Amy Argetsinger of the Washington Post (Amy, sorry I spilled that drink on you at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner - my assistant took care of the dry cleaning, right?).

But TMZ-wannabe sites like RadarOnline are becoming part of the story when they alone are dribbling out clearly edited “audiotapes” of Mr. Gibson free from the scrutiny of any legitimate journalists.  For all we know, Radar has simply edited together Mel’s monologues from his past movies (the similarities to Lethal Weapon 3 are striking) and cut them together with the voice of Anna Chapman, one of the Russian sleeper spies.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2010

Washington Crisis Management Consultants Accept Mel Gibson as Client
‘Racist Slurs are All About Context’

Washington, DC – The Washington-based EisenstadtGroup today announced its intention to accept Oscar®-winning actor/director Mel Gibson as a client. “We understand that Mr. Gibson is going through a tumultuous personal time right now, but we also realize his enormous talent and potential as an artist and advocate for public and philanthropic causes,” said Martin Eisenstadt, CEO and Founder of the EisenstadtGroup, a crisis management consulting firm.

“Regrettably much of Hollywood, including Mr. Gibson’s former agency, has turned its back on him,” said Eisenstadt. “But Mel still embodies the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans, and especially in this campaign season, we feel that he can give voice to the unheard mainstream.”

“We’ve seen many situations like this, and we generally find that after a period of public silence, then penitence, there comes a moment of redemption, acceptance and ultimately a stronger level of public support,” added Eisenstadt. “We pride ourselves in the field of ‘contrition management’ and we’ve already begun drafting the appropriate apologies.”

“Even though we are aware of the n-word’s adverse historical connotation, racist slurs are all about context,” said Eisenstadt.  “Calling Barack Obama, Thurgood Marshall or your next door neighbor a ‘n***r’ would be inappropriate and legitimate grounds for public ostracization. But in the privacy of your own home, to drunkenly accuse your significant other of sexually provoking a ‘pack of n****rs,’ well, who hasn’t done that? And according to that standard of judgment, we’d all be guilty.”

The EisenstadtGroup has a 14-year track record as one of Washington’s preeminent personal crisis management consultants, which has represented numerous public figures from the political, business and entertainment sectors, including Eliot Spitzer, Sen. Larry Craig, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Gov. Sarah Palin. A critically-acclaimed author, Eisenstadt also serves as a Sr. Fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom & Democracy, and has regularly appeared on MSNBC, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, USAToday and Time Magazine.

For more information, or to schedule an interview with Mr. Eisenstadt, please contact his assistant Daniel Sadler at Daniel.Sadler@EisenstadtGroup.com.

– # # # –

Remember Sarah Palin’s overly paid makeup artists from the presidential campaign - Amy Strozzi, Heather Cummings, and Tifanie White - well they all secured another Emmy nomination yesterday for their work on “So You Think You Can Dance.” The makeup team made headlines in the final weeks of the campaign because FEC reports showed that they were among the highest salaried workers on the campaign.

By my calculations, Amy had the highest salary on the campaign - making close to $70,000 for her work doing Palin’s makeup from the RNC convention through the election, and her assistant Tifanie made almost $40,000 for doing John and Cindy McCain’s. (Heather just came in to help at the convention.) In my book, I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans, I reported that this was undoubtedly a source of tension between Cindy and Sarah:  that Sarah got the top makeup artist, Amy; while Cindy got stuck with her assistant, Tifanie.

Sadly, still no Emmy nomination (or indeed, any professional tv or film credits) for the elusive fourth makeup artist who was paid $900 for flying from LA to Minneapolis for the convention: Tracy Thorp, who’s specialty was apparently spray-on tans.

Final note: though it was widely reported at the time that Strozzi had the highest salary on the campaign, what was interesting in the FEC reports was that the top three campaign officials - Steve Schmidt, Charlie Black, and Rick Davis - got no paid “salaries” at all.  Instead, all three were paid through their respective consulting companies in such a way that it was impossible to sort out what they actually made. Somehow I think they all did just fine. As for me?  I did the honorable thing and worked for free: Country first!