Pop Culture

The majority of you were correct in answering 7 or more in our poll this morning as the number of Michael Jackson's publicists mentioned in the ongoing news cycle.

Despite her very current relationship with the King of Pop, publicist-turned-manager Raymone Bain was outpaced by 90s publicist Michael Levine by about 4 to one in mentions.

It could be Bain is being careful due to her monster lawsuit against Jackson, or because Levine, as we figured out, spammed countless journalists with an I-knew-this-was-coming statement a little over an hour after TMZ broke the story of his death.

In fairness to Levine, I did nearly do a legit interview with him. After a number of voicemails back and forth of the course of the day, I finally got him on the horn only to be denied an interview because I was using a cell phone. He also declined to answer questions over email. By then the opportunity had passed.

The other five former publicists include:

Stuart Backerman, publicist from 2002 to 2004

Max Clifford, UK PR legend helped launch the Jackson 5 in '67-'68 when working in the press office at EMI

Kevin McLin, Chairman of the Mass Comm Department at Dillard U., publicist from 1996 - 2005. Or is it spelled McLyn? Local Louisiana media has both.

Jonathan Morrish, while at CBS in the 70s, now Director of music licensing company PPL (op-ed in The Independent)

Arthur Phoenix, publicist to the family and advisor to Tito in fact said on 6/10 Jackson would not be able to handle the 50 show marathon planned for this summer

[image cred]

Friday afternoons are a perfect time for "fluff" news stories -- on the other hand, many employ the strategy of using the end of the week to release important news they want no one to pay attention to -- either way, how about this story: Paris Hilton dumped her latest boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt, via her publicist.

The following statement from Hilton's spokesperson was sent to People.com:

In response to the inquiry on whether Paris Hilton has split up with Doug Reinhardt, yes, this is true they are no longer together. They remain friends and ask that you please respect their privacy.

Poor Doug didn't even know what hit him! When E! Online asked him about it he said, "No, that's not true. Everything is OK between us."

NBC is pitting blogger vs blogger for a chance to join the cast and crew of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here" in Costa Rica for a chance to...err, work for NBC for free and blog the behind the scenes happenings.

So far blogger trumps PR pro, as mediabistro's own Steve Krakauer survives round one with a post about shrieking bullet ants and parasitic botflys (they lay eggs under your skin!), while Boingo Wireless' PR guy Jeremy Pepper went with an inside look at his beauty products.

Despite the obvious attraction of the stingiest ants on earth vs. what's inside Jack Black moisturizer, we expected Pepper to put up a hard fight given the savage nature of PR people when faced with a contest they can game.

"I'm a Blogger...Get Me Out of Here!" heads to round two, with eight bloggers remaining.

Dan Klores isn't the only agency head producing movies anymore. Beginning this weekend, movie-goers will get a look at the trailer for the latest Cormac McCarthy adaptation "The Road" which is produced by Steve Schwartz and his wife Paula Mae Schwartz. They are the husband and wife team behind Schwartz Communications. I'm sure others at the firm will pick up any slack when the Schwartzs are busy with the opening in October, and I'm sure they're hoping, awards season shortly after. The firm is far from mom-and-pop, currently sitting 7th on the O'Dwyer's indie rankings with $31 million in billings and about 200 employees.

The post postapocalyptic McCarthy tale stars Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. The trailer is set to roll ahead of Angels & Demons this weekend. We'd advise skipping the Vatican sleuthfest in favor of watching it below:

[Raymone Bain via the Washtington Post's "Keeper Of the Famed"]

Michael Jackson's on-again, off-again turned General Manager Raymone Bain is suing the King of Pop for $44 million, claiming he didn't live up to his end of the deal.

Bain apparently negotiated the 50-date string of concerts in London expected to bring in $400 million, of which her cut is 10%.

TMZ has her video statement, which she closes with kind words and "no regrets".

Regarding Jackson's media personae, Bain said in a Geraldo interview last year, "Don't believe 90% of what you read because 9 times out of 10 it isn't true." Sort of begs the question, how much did Bain really help his image? Staying out of prison for molestation is a pretty big achievement, if she helped sway the court of public opinion.

A Washington Post profile from 2006 has by far the most detailed information on Bain and her career from the Carter administration to her deal to return to Jackson as GM.

We wrote earlier this month that People's Revolution founder and reality show star Kelly Cutrone landed her book deal before a rumored TV deal. Cutrone originally told us back in December that she was working with Project Runway producers Magical Elves on a new reality show.

Well, it's now official. Cutrone's show, "Kell on Earth" which is a working title, is scheduled to appear on Bravo. From the official announcement:

Kelly Cutrone has been called one of the "coolest, scariest and New York-iest people ever" and, judging from her frank demeanor and fashion world credibility, it's easy to see why. Bravo takes a no-holds-barred look into the life of one of America's most legitimate tastemakers as she balances running her wildly successful fashion PR company, People's Revolution, with being a single mother and one of New York's most notable women about town.

Cutrone, perhaps best known for her role on MTV's The Hills, is sure to provide fireworks and "send that video link to all your friends" moments. Bravo execs are certainly hoping the show will prove to be enticing, and longer lived than publicist Lizzy Grubman's Power Girls reality show which enjoyed a short stint on MTV. Given Cutrone's knack for creating a bang, we're thinking they'll get their money's worth.

It looks like fashion publicist Kelly Cutrone may have a book out before a TV show. Back in December PRNewser reported that Cutrone was shopping a reality show to networks alongside original Project Runway producers Magical Elves. There hasn't been a word on the show since. However, just this week Cutrone finalized a deal with Harper Collins for a yet to be titled book, "aimed at young women who have their sights set on power and success but lack the know-how to attain them," according to The New York Observer's Leon Neyfakh.

"I raise 20 young women a year in my business...A lot of them come to us when they're 18, 19 and in college and a lot of them end up coming back to us and we watch them grow up," Cutrone told the Observer.

Incidentally, or not, Gawker points out, "the New York Observer's Eight-Day Week columnist Meredith Bryan, who met Cutrone after writing a flattering profile last year, is co-writing the book. So there's that lesson right on the cover."

Max Clifford, the legendary British publicist spoke on camera to one of the kids from the Islamia Girls' Secondary School as part of the BBC's School Report program.

He's known for endless episodes of flackery in his 47 year career, including inventing the classic British tabloid story, "Freddie Starr Ate My Hampster" for client in need of attention, and a sandwich.

Though Clifford has amassed fame and wealth representing celebrities, he advises the kid to avoid unhealthy obsession with them, and says the only bold face name he cared about as a kid was footballer Johnny Haynes.

Clifford ranked fourth on the new PRWeek UK Power Book, out this week. He was bested by Matthew Freud, Roland Rudd, and Alan Parker in the first three spots.

For reference, his 2006 10-point guide to getting famous (below) is still relevant, except in the U.S. #5 and #7 are the same thing:

1. Appear on a reality series
2. Enter a talent contest
3. Be abysmal on a talent show
4. Gain fame by association
5. Date a celebrity
6. Flaunt your body
7. Date a Royal Family member
8. Make a home sex video
9. Be a success on MySpace
10. Be in the right place at the right time

Celebrities, CEOs, athletes take note, America is a country that will forgive you, if you have the guts to apologize.

To close out this week, enjoy the heartfelt apology from Rob Van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice, courtesy of RighttheMusicWrongs.com (site down temporarily), a Virgin Mobile interactive campaign.

At last check, fans were voting to acquit Mr. Ice of crimes against music humanity by about a two to one margin.

Is the WWE synching up with with Oscar nominee and The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke? According to Broadcasting and Cable, "The head of PR for WWE confirmed Monday that actor Mickey Rourke is planning to attend the company's Wrestlemania 25, the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania event in Houston in April...Sal Cataldi of Cataldi public relations, which does PR for WWE, he has confirmation from head of WWE PR Robert Zimmerman that Rourke is planning to be there."

Insiders tell B&C that Rourke wouldn't confirm the appearance until after the Oscars "for fear that his association would hurt his chances" of winning an award (Rourke lost out to Sean Penn).

The above video of Rourke and WWE wrestler Chris Jericho has all the makings of a "faux feud" leading up to the event. Let the speculation begin.