Formula 1 pay drivers move over for…paid celebs?
Santa Claus; The Easter Bunny; musicians who can sing. These are just some of my long held beliefs that have been shattered over the years. Today, another one of those tenets was destroyed (unintentionally) by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Dean, who probably mingled with plenty of folks this weekend in Montreal, reported today that a couple of the ‘celeb’s in the paddock were paid for their appearances! My first reaction was shock since I have grown up believing in the glamor and glitz of F1. I bought the story hook line and sinker that Formula 1 was an elite sport for an elite crowd. How wrong I was.
Even more hurtful was the identity of these paid ‘A’ listers - though in my opinion such a term flatters this pair. Montrealers didn’t get Tomkat or Brangelina. Nope, they got Pam Anderson and P Diddy! Apparently they were a steal at $100,000 and $200,000 respectively.
So, is this what F1 has been reduced to - buying tacky celebrity endorsements to perpetuate the illusion of glamor? Is the sport spending good money on cheesy celebs because it can’t draw the A-list? I’m totally disillusioned but a few thousand bucks and a VIP pass to the next race might make me feel just a bit better.
Are you listening Bernie?
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Tags: Brangelina, Canadian Grand Prix, Dean McNulty, Formula 1, TomKat, Toronto Sun
June 9th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I think the $100,000 and $200,000 was what the clubs paid to get them to attend their events…not F1 paying them to attend the race.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
You might be right that the host clubs pay for this sort of celebrity endorsement but really, is this something that should even be necessary. Given the outrageous costs of hosting a grand prix, is this money well spent? It’s difficult to ever feel sympathy again for a venue if they are going to throw their money at celebs. In my opinion there is no value added from P Diddy or Pamela Anderson.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:31 am
From what I know P Diddy is friends with Lewis Hamilton so when I saw P Diddy there, I immediately knew that he was invited by Lewis to watch the race from the McLaren paddock. It doesn’t make sense for F1 to pay celebs to attend, it is already glamorous on it’s own. People would kill to be seen in the paddock.