I love Lloyd Grove’s column…
New York Daily News – Home – Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Celeb ‘voters’ poll a fast one
Lowdown
So did they vote?
Or are they gonna die?
The early returns from Sean Combs’ mega-hyped Citizen Change campaign suggested that reality television star Paris Hilton and rapper 50 Cent – who appeared in eye-catching posters modeling Combs’ “VOTE OR DIE!” T-shirts to encourage voting – didn’t make it to the polls yesterday. Another star, rapper Ludacris, did mail in an absentee ballot, according to his publicist.
But Lowdown’s spot check of voting records in California, New York and Georgia – where Hilton, Curtis Jackson 3rd (aka 50 Cent) and Christopher Bridges (aka Ludacris), respectively, maintain residences – indicated that the three weren’t even registered, let alone exercising their constitutional right.
Citizen Change official Alexis McGill yesterday said that short of bodily hauling celebrities to the polls, the group did everything it could: “Citizen Change contacted every celebrity’s representative and was told by each and every one that the celebrities participating in our campaign were registered to vote.”
A Citizen Change insider elaborated: “All the celebrities’ managers confirmed that they were going to register if they hadn’t already. We have to take the managers at their word. We have no business checking up on them – especially because none of the celebs got paid.”
Hilton’s PR rep, Gina Hoffman, had no comment yesterday, and 50 Cent’s flack did not return detailed messages – though as a convicted felon and possibly not eligible, he might be off the hook.
Ludacris’ publicist, Bianca Bianconi, said: “I just got off the phone with Ludacris, and he said he absolutely mailed his absentee ballot last week in Fulton County, Ga.”
As for P. Diddy, he did a voting photo op yesterday morning at Robert F. Wagner Junior High School on the upper East Side.
Hypocrites. From the entertainment biz.
Bet you’re shocked by that, aren’t you?
(via Ed)