Readers respond: A little background on J.Lo’s ‘gift’
For Tuesday’s Word, I wrote about Jennifer Lopez, 42, “gifting” beau/backup dancer Casper Smart, 25, with a custom white Dodge pickup truck for his birthday. Apparently, Lopez “knew that Casper really wanted a truck, and Casper was very excited about the generous gift,” a source told People magazine. “Casper was so excited about his new truck that he decided to drive it to dinner.”
In the column, I made a crack about how 1. That “source” sounded like a quote-giving robot and 2. How I was surprised that Lopez didn’t buy him a Fiat considering all the shilling she does for them. This was not the joke to make! Check out my reader mail:
”You may need to do some more digging. Chrysler/Dodge/ Ram are owned in part by Fiat, which helped bailout Chrysler! That is why he got a Ram Truck from J. Lo and not a Ford F-150!”
- ”Did you really not know that Fiat and Dodge are both owned by Chrysler LLC, when you wrote that J.Lo dreck?”
- ”I feel obligated to point out that Fiat holds a considerable financial and developmental stake in Chrysler (who makes Dodge and Jeep vehicles). It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume she used an “employee discount” (if any money was spent at all) on that Dodge truck.”
In my defense, I am only a recycler of celebrity gossip, not a hard-hitting journalist who knows the ins and outs of the car industry. However, thanks to my eagle-eyed readers (and maybe a little funny/mean — what is this “dreck” nonsense!), who do know such things, we all now know that this “news item” and “gift” was a total plant by Fiat and that truck was free in exchange for press. Duped!
So, really, do celebrities ever pay for anything? Or do they just have to save their cash for when they will inevitably need a high-priced divorce lawyer?
