(Threatened) Lawsuit of the Day: Chelsea Clinton Sics Dad on Italian Eatery
We met Chelsea Clinton at a wedding once. She wasn’t super-friendly; in fact, she was downright standoffish. She gave off this aloof, “stay away starf**kers” sort of vibe.
Chilly Chelsea couldn’t be more different from her gregarious parents, whom we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Bill and Hillary Clinton are friendly and down-to-earth, despite being far more recognizable than even their famous daughter.
(Yeah, we know, they’re politicians and she’s an ordinary citizen. But that doesn’t means she can’t be nice to people.)
Based on our firsthand experience with Chelsea Clinton — and it was an overseas wedding, so we were actually in her presence for several days — we weren’t that surprised to read this story. From WCBSTV:
A celebrity photo has led a former president to send a threatening letter to a Manhattan restaurant owner.President Bill Clinton has demanded that the owner of Greenwich Village restaurant Osso Buco remove a picture of his daughter Chelsea that’s been gracing the walls of the family-style Italian eatery, alongside other celebrity photographs.
Owner Nino Selimaj tells CBS 2 that the picture has been up for years and has never posed a problem until now.
What’s the big deal? Such pictures are commonplace in restaurants of a certain type, and they’re all over the place at Osso Buco — placing Chelsea on notice, when she posed for the photo, that it might be hung on the wall.
More after the jump.
The article continues:
Selimaj says the daughter of the former president and current presidential candidate is just one of his many customers at Osso Buco. But Mr. Clinton says his daughter is a private citizen and he doesn’t want the photograph of her posing with Selimaj hanging in the restaurant.Mr. Clinton’s Counseler [sic], Douglas J. Band, sent a letter to Selimaj with the demands and even a threat should Selimaj choose to leave the photograph up.
Doug Band’s letter is available here. He writes that “[w]e reserve the right to exercise any and all options available to us if you refuse to comply.”
Thoughts? It strikes us as much ado about nothing — and by complaining about the photo, Chelsea has given it far more attention than it ever would have received. But would any experts on the right of publicity care to chime in?
Bill Clinton, Eatery At Odds Over Chelsea Photo [wcbstv.com]
Clinton In Restaurant Row [The Smoking Gun]
(64) Comments
Comments
first
^
|
idiot
Counseler?
Time to send the whole family back to Arkansas.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119076741770539360.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
Band isn't a counselor, he's an aide, and apparently a shady and/or stupid one
can someone tell me what HTH means? i know it has something to do with autoadmit, but ive seen people use it as an insult, and it puzzles the hell out of me.
Aren't the news stories a little misleading? BILL Clinton would, it seems, have no standing to do anything about a picture taken of Chelsea when she was 22, unless we are imagining some strange sort of trademark-the-family-of-the-former-president argument, which would certainly be laughed out of court. If indeed there is threatened legal action here, then it is Chelsea herself who must be acting.
Who would eat at an "Italian" restaurant owned by a guy named Selimaj?
And Osso Buco -- how original. I guess Pasta Primavera was taken.
I met Chelsea Clinton (and her boyfriend) in NYC in late January 2001, just after her father left office. She couldn't have been more friendly or conversational.
"Daddy, I want my picture off that wall RIGHT NOW!!!!"
I'm surprised the restaurant owner wouldn't just take the picture down to preserve good relations with the Clintons.
HTH= hope that helps
If the photo was taken in the restaurant -- the walls of which are apparently covered in photos of the owner with other famous people -- wouldn't a reasonable person have expected the photo to end up on the wall? In other words, didn't Chelsea consent?
Everyone has missed the real story here. Chelsea wants the picture removed because she's embarrassed by the lame note whe wrote on it:
"Nothing's finer than being in your diner."
People are going to be reading that for the next twenty years and laughing at her.
Sounds like it might be time for HRC to call in the goons who took care of Vince Foster.
Sorry, Selimaj. Your time has come.
"counseler?"
not sure if you're questioning the spelling or what, but Doug is basically Bill's right hand man.
Great guy . . . Graduated Georgetown Law in the evening while working as Bill's 'counselor' when he was President. . . couldn't have been too easy
"counseler" is definitely a misspelling.
It's: C-O-N-S-I-G-L-I-E-R-I
You'd think she'd get that horse grill fixed.
11:09 - perhaps that is why she wants the photo taken down. Me thinks she has had work done since that photo was taken.
LEAVE CHELSEA ALONE!
HOW FUCKING DARE ANYONE OUT THERE MAKE FUN OF CHELSEA AFTER EVERYTHING SHE'S BEEN THROUGH! SHE WENT THROUGH TWO PRESIDENCIES AND HER DAD'S PHILANDERING! ALL YOU PEOPLE CARE ABOUT IS READERS AND MAKING MONEY OFF OF HER. SHE'S A HUMAN!
YOU'RE LUCKY SHE EVEN TOOK THE PICTURE FOR YOU BASTARDS.
LEAVE CHELSEA ALONE!
don't tase me bro
11:13--So Chelsea, why do you want your picture taken down?
I can't believe she's actually eaten at Osso Buco. It's a low end "italian" place/tourist trap, where the spaghetti with marinara sauce is more like macaroni with ketchup.
Look for said restaurant owner to "commit suicide" sometime soon.
Chelsea's great. I met her during college in the midst of her dad's impeachment crisis (she's a friend of a friend) and she was kind and gracious and totally classy.
Gotta love it when good old Billy Boy all of a sudden becomes William Jefferson. And help me out here: Poor Nino's asked to immediately remove that picture "and any and all pictures displaying Ms. Clinton." In his restaurant? All throughout Greenwich Village? Manhattan? Everywhere?
11:24, any other "Goodfellas" lines you would like to employ without attribution?
What's the deal with using a comma instead of a colon in a formal, stern "demand" letter? Even using the guy's first name is a bit strange.
11:01,
That eatery better watch out or Clinton's famous cigar just might accidently burn the place down.
11:01,
That eatery better watch out or Clinton's famous cigar just might accidently burn the place down.
I'd love to see a video on you tube of Chelsea or the bush girls getting tased!
Better yet, make tasing part of a presidential debate. I'll vote for the toughest bastard left standing, aka Hillary.
I wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea has become more withdrawn and publicity-shy since she replaced Ian Klaus with current boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky (whose father was or is in federal prison).
Sure looks to me like it's spelled "counselor" in the letter.
Sure looks to me like it's spelled "counselor" in the letter.
10:49 are you a 2L in week 3 of Fed Jur? I'd recommend Chemerinsky's "Federal Jurisdiction: Fourth Edition" to keep you at the top of the curve!
How do you know that Chelsea complained? The letter doesn't say that. Seems like her dad took the initiative for some reason.
Chelsea ate my Osso Bucco.
to the person who hated on Osso Buco, please shut up. it isn't babbo, but it is still pretty damned tasty. it is great italian family style dining, my family lives near there and has eaten there for years. i recommend it highly.
When I'm an ex-president having my counselor write frivolous letters about polaroids of my adult children, I'll be sure to at least make sure that the grammar is right. Either delete the comma before Osso Bucco in the first sentence or add a comma after it. It's poorly written either way, but there's no harm in making it grammatically correct.
The Clintons are probably just trying to tie down any loose ends before the election. My guess is the Clintons have suspicions about the restaurant owner/clientele/workers/etc. They don't want opponents to use the photo to say, "A-ha! The Clintons dine at this restaurant, which is known for [insert bad thing here]."
Not saying the restaurant IS bad or has something wrong with it, but my guess is the Clintons SUSPECT it and want to quash it, pronto.
The Clintons are probably just trying to tie down any loose ends before the election. My guess is the Clintons have suspicions about the restaurant owner/clientele/workers/etc. They don't want opponents to use the photo to say, "A-ha! The Clintons dine at this restaurant, which is known for [insert bad thing here]."
Not saying the restaurant IS bad or has something wrong with it, but my guess is the Clintons SUSPECT it and want to quash it, pronto.
Who is else is on the wall at Osso Bucco?
Proper grammar is over rated.
12:14 is correct - Maybe it's because I'm in DC, but it seems obviously connected to Hillary's run for the WH.
Hillary wants to appeal to Dem voters and nothing does that worse than having her family posing for pictures (and tacitly endorsing) with a restaurant owner that [reportedly] serves posh $1,000 dishes.
Seems easy enough.
I went to school with Chels-dawg at Stanford. That's how we lovingly referred to her. She went through half the guys on the swim team and many guys on the polo team (most of whom just wanted to write home that they hooked up with her), managed to seriously date one swimmer that was such a douche that even his teammates wouldn't live with him, was constantly a snobby biatch and then, magically graduated with honors after writing a thesis on international affairs in which she used Daddy's connections to interview top diplomats, and then waltzed into a post-MBA job at McK (a firm her father uses for tons of non-profit consulting work) which she then parlayed into a hedgie job. In other words, she's a champ. I think she really clinched her lame-o status when she dropped her "real friends" (the ones that stood by her through the tough Monica scandal times) to live with a completely different set of girls her senior year at Stanford. That was so classy. My other favorite thing about her was that when I was in classes with her, before class, she'd sit and whisper (shshshshsh) with whomever was next to her lest anyone overhear her precious comments--she couldn't talk in a normal tone or be normal.
I wouldn't be too worried about any letters from Band after the WSJ exposed his shady dealings yesterday.
And AS FOR MS. ALL CAPS CHELSEA DEFENDER, instead of shouting, maybe you could illuminate some good qualities about Chelsea. I didn't see any in school, my friends who worked with her at McK said she was awful, and my friends that were at Oxford when she was say she was royally lame.
Bon chance, Chelsea! Hope you end up back in the White House so you can have more sleepovers there with Brady, Matt, Justin, Erin, Bridget and the gang :)
Hey Anna -
Chelsea worked at McK after college, not an MBA. Are you sure you really know her?
Yeah, anna, Cheslea was Not a SA!!! Learn how to read!!!
Great dish, though, thanks. I'm guessing your post is probably coming off. Glad I got a chance to read it.
Chelsea = I'd hit it.
And AS FOR MS. ALL CAPS CHELSEA DEFENDER, instead of shouting, maybe you could illuminate some good qualities about Chelsea.
----------------------------------------------
anna,
Just in case you aren't joking, the Chelsea Defender you are speaking about is mocking the Leave Britney Alone youtube video.
Anna,
First of all, everyone knows that Stanford is a starf*cker school. Chelsea, Tiger Woods, etc. You can hardly complain about the stars getting special treatment after your school f*cks them for being stars.
Second, I wonder if Chelsea's social interactions were more difficult than say, yours. You know. Being the President's daughter. Having catty people like you evaluating her to ensure she is meeting your standards, etc. Frankly, your comment comes off as sour grapes.
12:11 - the Osso Bucco on University Place is good? You have either never had good Italian food or you work there. I would even go so far as to rank Carmine's (tourist trap of the century) as a better family-style Italian rest.
See you at Crunch!
NYU Alum,
What is a good family-style Italian restaurant in NYC?
As for the MBA vs. not--that's precisely my point. Chelsea got her MA at Oxford (NOT an MBA) and got an MBA level job.
And for those in the know, (and this has NEVER been widely publicized) Tiger left Stanford after suspected NCAA violations (not to mention that he had a huge paycheck waiting for him to leave). He had even pledged a frat (Sigma Chi).
I disagree with Stanford being a StarF**cker school. Chelsea got zero special treatment aside from being limited in where she could live for security reasons, and thus she was exempted from the Housing Draw. We have a lot of star athletes--tons of Olympians etc--but our "stars" tend to be C-list at best--Fred Savage? Danny Pintauro? Sigourney Weaver? Andre Braugher?
I think Chelsea did handle herself admirably. For instance, she did not drink in public EVER until she was 21. (Behind closed doors, maybe.) That takes willpower.
The point of my post was not to totally flame her. It was to point out that she has had a different opportunity set than most, and that connections have helped. She is very very bright. And her good friends always claimed she was a sweetheart. It's just her public standoffishness/aloofness/holier-than-thou attitude that rubs onlookers (like me) the wrong way.
Touche!
(Oh--and I don't visit YouTube, so I have no idea about Britney Spears' defenders there....sorry!)
magically graduated with honors after writing a thesis on international affairs in which she used Daddy's connections to interview top diplomats
_____________________________
Nice recovery. Sounds like you were flaming her and alleging special treatment. Maybe you meant "magically" in a literal sense and believe that there was magic, rather than special treatment involved.
Oh, and Stanford is totally a starf*cker school. Most of the Olympians got in after becoming famous (Debi Thomas, for instance), and Tiger's departure doesn't mean he was not admitted. Sigourney Weaver is C list now, but she wasn't then. You may be too young to remember when she was a big star.
Too bad UCLA is still cooler for having Shakira take a class there.
Well, Anna, thanks for the latest edition of High School Confidential. You honestly don't see how your first post came off as petty bitchery? I see, though, you changed your tune in the second edition.
How about some common sense? Nobody even considers this involves security? It's not the smartest thing to advertise the regular haunts of the daughter of 2 people under Secret Service protection. For all we know the advice came from the Secret Service.
Why don't you just pick up the phone and call Bill's office.
I like the petty bitchery. More, please.
Also, Fred Savage a C-lister? YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!! You take that back right now!
Anna you sound like the girl that never got invited to any parties and were jealous that "half the guys on the swim team and many guys on the polo team" didn't want to throw it to you so you're ripping on Chelsea on some anonymous law forum.
And who cares what her living arrangements were during her senior year. Are you in 4th grade? Honestly you're sound VERY lame.
With an election coming, and Mom in the fray, I believe that this is an attempt to extend the FCC's 'fairness doctrine' to restaurants. If Nixon was still alive and was running, I'd bet that John Dean would be crafting a letter to Sammy Davis Jr. urging him to quash all those "hug" pictures.
Really.
So did Chelsea get a cold offer from McK or what? That seems like the real issue here!
Why isn't anybody talking about this???
What about that District Court judge from Florida; the one with the great tits? I don;t see her complaining that her lovely cans were photographed and publicly circulated? She is damn proud of her tits! Go judge! (P>S. have you ruled on my application to touch them yet?) Respectfully yours, ME
Face it Lat, you're just pissed b/c I didn;t want to fuck you. And my mom + dad are so "nice" becuase they are phony motherfuckers who are always running for something.
EVERYBODY LEAVE ANNA ALONE! JUST LEAVE HER ALONE!!!! HASN'T SHE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH??
God!
(I sooooo heart Anna)
I saw Chelsea once a year or so ago(actually, not far from Osso Buco, near University Place). She seemed perfectly normal and looked very attractive.
I don't get the hate on Osso Buco, though...it is perfectly serviceable food for what it is, and I think it is much better than Carmine's, not to mention that other family-style Italian on the Upper East Side, Tony's.
Also, I find it hard to believe that other eateries don't have photos of her and her parents schmoozing with the owners...restaurants love those kinds of tchotchkes, and you see them in the Theater District places as well as the rest of the city.
I recently had the terrible experience of running into Clinton's Cheif of Staff Doug Band.....What a rude, arrogant and nasty person. I have met many people in my day and this guy has got to be one of the worst. I can't believe that the Clintons' have a guy like that working for them. He is a reflection of them and the way they probably treat people. Knowing what I now know, I would never vote for Hilary.
Hey Doug!!!!! Get some people skills buddy!!!!