Bill Clinton’s “triumphant” return from North Korea with two U.S. journalists was staged by a celebrity public-relations firm.
Clinton’s mission to return Laura Ling and Euna Lee was bankrolled by entertainment mogul Steve Bing. The Hollywood gazillionaire donated his private Boeing 737 and then chipped in another $200,000 in fuel and other costs.
But much less attention has been paid to Bing’s other efforts. As the New York Post reports:
Bing’s Shangri-La entertainment firm also funded a major logistical effort to carefully showcase Clinton’s arrival in Tinseltown — which featured Ling lauding the former president while almost in tears.
Hollywood p.r. firm Rogers & Cowan, which represents Bing along with a bevy of A-list celebs, began organizing the arrival ceremony after it got word Tuesday morning — while Clinton was still on the ground in Pyongyang — to get ready, according to a Hollywood source.
The firm chose as its venue Hangar 25 at Bob Hope International Airport in Burbank, a solar-powered facility that has hosted other press events.
Staffers put together three press risers to accommodate more than 100 media and TV crews, and contracted an in-house photographer to capture the event.
The p.r. firm closely coordinated with Bill Clinton’s foundation, which worked with former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV to have family members on hand for the homecoming.
Is it just us or did the whole event feel about as real as Beowulf, Bing’s last major Hollywood production.
Source: New York Post
