Saturday, July 3, 2010

IDIOT OF THE WEEK AWARD












(from Gawker.com)

World's Worst Person Tries to Extort 19-Year-Old Girl
Remember John Fitzgerald Page? He's the "actor/model" who is the undisputed Worst Person in the World thanks to his dickish online dating habits and terrible website. Now he's attempting to extort a 19 year-old girl.

In addition to being a Mensa member, John Fitzgerald Page is also the CEO of the talent agency Modern Models, Inc. in Atlanta ("We are striving for classy, not 'edgy'!" Also, we prefer ONE of four hair colors - blonde, brown, black or red.") Except, according to one of his clients, it's a scam. What his agency does, it appears, is simply copy publicly listed casting calls and paste them into emails which he sends out to his clients—mostly young girls. Then he charges his "clients" a large commission for hooking them up with the role.

A 19-year-old girl realized what was going on and sent a "reply all" message to one of his all-client emails last week, telling them they would be better off just cutting out Page and auditioning for these roles themselves. Shortly after the girl—who I will call "Rebecca"—and her friend received a sprawling email from Page. Subject: "Your options: APOLOGIZE/SETTLE/GET SUED"

He tells the girls "I am going to educate you to a bit and then give you your options."
Before EITHER of you were born, I was auditioning for movies with Nick Nolte, commercials for Domino's pizza and walking the runway with Gingiss formalwear. I went on to an Ivy League university and took classes at the best business school in the country, Wharton. The education I paid for myself is worh $200,000 in today's dollars. I am also a Mensa member, which means your I.Q. must be in the top 2% in the country.
In 2003, I started back in the Hollywood game, casting a little show called Joe Millionaire 2. Since then, I have built up 56 IMDb.com credits in casting/acting, a pretty hefty amount in a non major acting market.

After running down his many "accomplishments" he promises that "I can burn you both with every other legit agency in town with an email." He tells the girls that, "High school is over, ladies. You cannot defame, slander and libel someone and his legit business and get away with it…" And gives the ladies three options:

1) APOLOGIZE. I need a full, heartfelt, detailed apology, which I will send to all affected talent. You had nothing to lose by working with me, and everything to gain. If I made you $100 this year, you were up $100! OR 2) Pay me $1000 settlement EACH by Sunday at midnight. This is to make up for commissions lost today and in the future, by you actively revealing my business sources to my talent. And your attempt to damage my reputation, question my intelligence and reduce my talent pool. Also, my name or my business name is never to cross your lips again. OR 3) On Monday, I will begin the legal process to sue you both for the sum of $100,000 for defamation of character, libel, slander, current and future loss of income & talent pool. I will probably win an out of court settlement from you for $10K each pretty easily, based on the emails you each wrote that I have forwarded to my counsel.

After Rebecca called him and told him to fuck off, basically, Page reiterated his accomplishments and demands in a new email. Adding, this time,
My legal team is prepared, I expect to hear from you ASAP about which option you want to explore. You stood your ground as tiny mouse against a cat, now that you recognize that cat is a mountain lion, maybe you will come to your senses.
And that's how the Worst Person In the World tried to extort a 19-year-old girl.
Send an email to Adrian Chen, the author of this post, at mailto:adrian@gawker.com?subject=http://gawker.com/5578698/worlds-worst-person-tries-to-extort-19+year+old-girl.

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