WASHINGTON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A former White House staffer is facing the heat 5 years after a 9/11-benefit concert held at RFK Stadium, after reportedly stiffing concert organizers Clear Channel Entertainment to the tune of $25,000.
David Kuo, the administration’s point man for the star-studded “United We Stand” concert, held just weeks after the 2001 attacks to benefit the American Red Cross and other relief funds, jumped on an idea to hand out 50,000 small American flags to the audience, repeatedly assuring the promoters that he would find a corporate sponsor to underwrite $25,000 cost.
The concert, featuring Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, James Brown, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, P. Diddy, Rod Stewart and Destiny’s Child, came and went, but the money from Kuo never arrived, according to the Washington Post.
The paper reports that Kuo eventually stopped returning the promoters calls, and the organizers were eventually quietly asked by the White House to back off. Kuo recently resurfaced on “60 Minutes” to promote his new book, “Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction,” and was rapidly brought back into the spotlight.
When asked about the concert, he told the paper he didn’t remember much about the discussions, but regrets if he didn’t produce the promised money.
“If I did something wrong, I’m sorry,” Kuo told the Post. “That’s all I’m going to say, just to save time and apologize to people. I don’t want to have hurt anybody.”
Republicans are also rapidly attacking Kuo for his claims that the Bush administration cynically manipulated evangelical Christians in his book, and many GOP loyalists are hot on his trail.
“Of course the long knives are out for me. I’ve had lots of calls from friends about people who are going to ‘take me down’ or destroy me. I’m not going to back down. I’ll confess to whatever it is, so I can keep on talking about what I want to talk about.” –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
