Poor Ellen DeGeneres. Her new puppy just wouldn’t get along with the cats. So she gave it to a friend. Except that the pet adoption agency cried breach of contract, because she was to return the puppy to the shelter and not give it away. So they took the doggie back and Ellen cried on the air. Mean, mean dog people.
Except maybe Ellen’s people aren’t so nice either.
But Keith Fink, a lawyer for Mutts & Moms, tells Page Six’s Marianne Garvey it’s all an act. Behind the scenes, DeGeneres’ publicist was calling the small agency and threatening it, says Fink, who played a vicious voice-mail message for us:
“This is Kelly Bush. We are filing a legal case against you. We are going to be contacting the media. This is not going to be good for your store or your organization. You did not do the right thing. You need to call back. There is no reason for you to take this dog. Please call back before this gets further out of hand.”
“Ellen’s lying,” said Fink. “She is using her power and her access to the media to destroy this agency in the media. This is a woman who has signed many seven-figure contracts. She knows what she signed.”
According to Fink, after yesterday’s show aired, Ellen’s fans bombarded Mutts & Moms’ owner, Marina Batkis, with threatening calls to “burn her house down.” One fan said, “You slimeball bitches are not worthy of living. How dare you make Ellen cry. Give Iggy back!”
Bush denied making threats. “I have not left any threatening messages at all,” she said. “The agency threatened to go to the media and I said that wouldn’t be a good idea. I told them there’s just no need to escalate this . . . They started this by wanting to take it public. I was the one who said, ‘Let’s talk about this.’ “
I’m gonna go pop me some popcorn. This is going to get good.
4 Responses to “So…this Ellen DeGeneres dog thing? A lot more than meets the eye”
what bastards
PLEASE. I don’t care if you are Queen Elizabeth, when you sign a contract, it’s BINDING. Pet rescues, including the one I work for, have that clause in their contracts FOR A REASON. You don’t spend all the time and money and love on an animal and then adopt it out with no further consideration for the welfare of that animal. That’s WHY shelters check out prospective adoptors, and WHY they insist that if it doesn’t work out with the animal, it comes BACK to the original rescue organization. I’m sorry Ellen’s feelings are hurt but she can’t change the rules just because she’s a celebrity. Tell the hairdresser to go to a shelter themselves and APPLY for an animal. IF they are deemed appropriate, I’m sure they will get a dog just as sweet as Iggy…Lord knows there are millions that need homes.
ellen is using her access to the media to pressure a private charity to do what she wants. I can’t believe that people are buying it, its really a case of a hyper-privileged media star bullying the non-famous.
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