Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust (25 page)

The Salahis were hit with a blast of heat and humidity when they stepped out of the air-conditioned limo and into a sweltering August day at La Guardia Airport. The skies were beginning to blacken with storm clouds while they hurried to the gate for the flight south. Bravo had paid for Michaele’s plane ticket but refused to pay for Tareq’s flight. Ironically, his round-trip ticket had been had provided by
The View.

Severe summertime thunderstorms stranded the Salahis on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport for the better part of two hours. When they finally landed at Washington’s National Airport there was a camera crew from the
TMZ.com
website waiting to ask the about the Whoopi controversy. It seemed wherever they went people only wanted to talk about the negative.

Tareq and Michaele, for whom there is no occasion that doesn’t warrant a party, had asked their contacts at Bravo weeks earlier about the plans for this particular night. They were told that Bravo TV does not host premiere parties for its cast members, period. So the Salahis felt free to make their own plans. Tareq contacted a party organizer friend named Howard Cromwell and the gears were set in motion to create a premiere night “event.” Cromwell lists himself as the President and CEO of a group of media, entertainment and production entities including
DC’s Most Fabulous
Magazine.

Naturally, the premiere party plans were on a grand scale. They would rent a large venue with a big stage and plenty of audience seating! The auditorium at the Daughters of the American Revolution building would be perfect. They’d bring in a mammoth video screen to watch the episode! There would be cocktails and snacks both before and after. It would be a great and memorable event!

Cromwell made available to advertisers and sponsors a limited number of $10,000 “Platinum Level Partnerships.” For that money, sponsors and fifty of their friends would get to party face-to-face with the Salahis plus enjoy a whole host of logo placement opportunities, vendor space and special promotional materials like banners and signs that read, “The Salahis’
Housewives
World Premier (sic) Party is being brought to you by …(insert the name of your organization here)…” Other sponsors could join the fun by ponying up $7,000 (Gold Level), $5,000 (Silver Level), or $3,000 (Bronze Level).

Executives at Bravo were not happy when they saw Cromwell’s that sponsorship proposal was to be sent out to potential event sponsors. First, it used the Bravo logo and the protected trademark,
“The Real Housewives of D.C.”
Second, it made this grandiose claim:

Your involvement will allow for visibility at the Salahis’ Housewives World Premier (sic) Party, which will be covered and recorded by local, national and international press, cable, and network television stations which will reach over…

45 million viewers!!!

We are offering High-Level Partnership opportunities to increase your brand awareness during the launch!

How Cromwell came up with the 45 million figure, and why he consistently leaves the last “e” off the word “premiere” is anybody’s guess. The network was especially unhappy with the plan to charge sponsorship admission prices. As one NBC-Universal lawyer wrote to the Salahis on July 8, 2010 in a tersely worded warning, “A pay-to-enter viewing party for the Series may also constitute copyright infringement as an unauthorized public performance of the Series.”

The Salahis maintain they were only to be guests at this premiere extravaganza. They planned to simply make a public appearance in a place where the first episode of Michaele’s show was playing and everyone would have some fun. They said they weren’t actively involved in organizing the event and they had asked for and expected no money from it. This was simply their way of life. When something exciting is about to happen …well, you throw a big party to celebrate!

Cromwell, who had worked with Tareq on America’s Polo Cup events in the past, acknowledged being the impetus behind the entire plan. He said there was no choice but to seek out corporate sponsors to pay for the event, since the Salahis could no longer afford to throw parties themselves. The idea was doomed from the start.

In the case of a corporation versus the little guy, the latter almost never prevails. The network had sent in their lawyers to nibble and gnaw away at the grand and glorious proposal and Cromwell’s premiere party plans got smaller and smaller. It was ultimately decided that the “World Premier (sic) Red Carpet Event” as it had been billed would take place at the EFN Lounge located in one of DC’s less fancy neighborhoods. Tickets to the event would range from $25 to $150 for VIP seating next to the Salahis. Cromwell listed two charities which would benefit, DAB the Aids Bear Project and Honor and Remember, Inc. The latter group represents families of fallen military members. It’s an organization especially near and dear to Michaele because her father, Howard Holt Sr., was an Army man and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Cromwell also arranged for an after-party at Josephine’s, another DC nightspot, located just four blocks from the White House.

Cromwell released several different versions of his announcement via Facebook describing the pared-down plans. In one he called the event the “official” premiere party for the new DC-based
Housewives
season, and he displayed a picture of all five cast members. A posting on the Salahis’ facebook page seemed to corroborate the claim on July 28
^th
when Tareq wrote:

“Aug 5th will be a day/evening packed with exciting festivities! We will be attending/hosting this exciting Official party also! We look forward to seeing you!

OX & Cheers!”

The other
Housewives
were angered at seeing their faces included in such a lowbrow effort, and the network again felt its trademark was being misused. Network executives approved the release of a statement declaring that they and the other four women were
in no way
connected to the EFN party: “NBC Universal and Bravo have not sanctioned and are not involved…” in the nightclub event, and “any assertions otherwise are false.”

Bravo could probably have maintained control of the situation if it had arranged its own cast party from the get-go. The Salahis would have simply—yet grandly, to be sure—sashayed into the network party and basked in the glow of attention. Instead, they saw a social void in the lack of a formal premiere event and jumped in to fill it.

Just as the situation seemed almost completely out of control, a surprise announcement came from the Bravo subcontractor, Half Yard Productions. Two days before the premiere, Half Yard executives revealed they too would have a
Housewives
premiere night party. Theirs would be an invitation-only affair at the elegant Madison Hotel. A Half Yard representative was quoted as saying all five
Housewives
would be there and, “The event is private and is a screening for the family and friends of the ladies in the show.” Only preapproved media would be allowed in.

The Salahis made plans to attend the Madison Hotel event prior to their other parties and there was a faint hint at possible reconciliation between the warring factions. Each cast member was allowed to invite twenty guests to the Madison Hotel affair. My name, the name of our mutual literary manager, Sharlene Martin, the Salahis’ attorney John Flannery, Michaele’s mother, Rosemary Holt and the nurse, Cynthia Moseley, who had so kindly met Michaele at the hospital in January were among those on the Salahis’ guest list.

Dissention was bubbling behind the scenes, according to Tareq. The Half Yard producers reserved the right to “vet” the guests and insisted that spouses were to be counted toward the twenty person limit. There was dissatisfaction expressed over the Salahis’ list. I may not have been a welcomed guest either, as I had written an article for
TheDailyBeast.com
months earlier confirming what Bravo would not—that Michaele Salahi was officially part of the cast. The Salahis both became so uncomfortable with the tone of things that decided they would be better off not going to the Madison Hotel party at all.

But there is a source who insists that none of that is why the Salahis stayed away. This person, who has been very close to all developments in this saga, said word was sent to Tareq that he would not be welcomed, that he was, in fact
, banned
from attending the premiere event at the Madison Hotel. He had simply caused way too many problems, especially during the important week preceding the premiere. Network executives preferred that Michaele attend so they could show the world a cozy group of five
Housewives,
but they were willing to forgo that to keep Tareq Salahi at bay.

Tareq wrote to me that he and Michaele had plenty of reasons not to want to go, anyway.

Michaele and I wanted to share the premiere experience with all those that helped us, and that were there for us
through thick & thin
. Remember, Bravo ABANDONED us after the White House. No calls, no emails, no checking up on us, NOTHING. As far as we were concerned, they “QUIT” - not us… they QUIT. This is the biggest factor why we didn’t go.

On an evening when the whole cast of a production would ordinarily be together celebrating their collective success, there was only turmoil and bad feelings. The Salahis were sorely aware that they were resented by the other
Housewives
for being the primary focus of all the media attention. They knew that none of the cast and many on the crew were unhappy with Tareq’s behavior, stretching as far back as the first time he berated a Half Yard producer for failing to get the promised camera crew to the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner.

The event at EFN Lounge, which Salahi detractors like to point out was a gay bar most evenings, was densely populated that night. Many of those in attendance were from the media.
Access Hollywood
,
Extra
,
TMZ
and
OK
Magazine were among those jostling to get photographs and video of Michaele in her stylish strapless red dress. Michaele would say later that, “I made the right decision. I began to remember what was important to me: the people, the troops, their wives, families, friends, charities. I definitely made the right decision and I (was) happy to be with people who have love in their hearts.” The clear implication was that she’d had just about enough of the hate-filled
Housewives.

Why Do We Hate Them So?

While writing this book I was informed by so many that they hated the Salahis “for what they did.” Yet when pressed for particulars about exactly what they thought the Salahis had “gotten away with,” nearly everyone I spoke to admitted they did not have the whole story about what really happened at President Obama’s first official state dinner at the White House on the night of November 24, 2009.