March 27, 2010 (GBN News): Tiger Woods was not the only public figure to recently lose a lucrative celebrity endorsement contract due to embarrassing legal trouble. GBN News has learned that Joel Klein, the NY City schools chancellor, had apparently been paid “in the high six figures” by Research in Motion to prominently display his Blackberry at public events. But the company is reportedly dropping Mr. Klein due to a recent lawsuit.
According to a ruling by state supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis, the closure of 19 schools by the NY City Department of Education under Mr. Klein violated state law. And Mr. Klein may even be defying the court ruling itself by effectively preventing children from enrolling in the schools, which are now supposed to remain open.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better pitchman for our product,” a source at Research in Motion told GBN News. “He’s shown off that Blackberry every chance he gets. He never takes his eyes - or his fingers - off of it at PEP meetings, press conferences, even social events. He clearly prefers his Blackberry to human beings. But we’re a reputable company, and we can’t be associated with people who don’t show respect for the rule of law. So we had to let him go.”
There was apparently some good news for the Chancellor, however. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mr. Klein broke the record for longest game of “Brickbreaker” when he managed to make the game last the entire length of the marathon January 26 PEP meeting.
Is that legal for him to be endorsed by a profit-making company while he works for the city?
ReplyDeletePlease tell me that he violated a comflict of interest law or some form of double-dipping infraction within the city's bylaws.
Make my day someone and have him arrested!