Je$$ica’$ $upport: It’$ all about the $$$$

So I was right on the money. (Pun intended.) LT Nixon is awaiting confirmation from another source, but he’s posted a link on his blog to Media Takeout that indicated Miz Je$$ica used this as a photo op for her own self-promotion.

I am [Department Of Defense] civilian here in Kuwait working at the camp that held the OPERATION MYSPACE tour which was a charity event. She was the only act that was paid. Jessica insisted that they pay here approximately $150,000 [plus] $10,000 a day for Ken Paves and $6,000 a day for her stylist and make up artist.

When she arrived on the air field she had a pre-order that no one was allowed to come up to her and touch her she was looking very stuck up and snobby. When she came in the dining facility she only served the food for the troops for 5 minutes.

**snip**

I am tired of celebrities trying to take advantage of our troops and use it for there own exposure at a cost. Please expose Jessica for the real fake person she is. She definitely needs a reality check. I guess the great ratings of ” Blonde Ambition”, should tell her where she stands as an A-Lister.

Given that her career seems to be floundering and she’s just “discovered” country music, she’s gotta know that pics of her with the troops would do her good with the Nashville crowd. As Chet Flippo at CMT’s blog put it,

Someone should keep a running count of all the pop, rock, and otherwise singers who show up in Nashville every year and proclaim “I’ve always been country” and announce their immediate availability as country singer. Why is it that it’s always singers whose careers don’t seem to be on the upswing? I would call them “carpetbaggers” but that would be demeaning to the real carpetbaggers, who were deadly serious. Let’s just call them what they are: opportunistic arrivistes. Bless their hearts.

Bless their hearts indeed. (And ya’ll know the southern translation for that, right?)

Jessica Simpson troop supporter? Not really

At least not according to PMSNBC.com. Check this out…

Jessica Simpson is headlining the Operation MySpace concert in Kuwait Monday, but industry insiders are wondering how Simpson is going to pull off making her performance look like a gift to the troops given how little time she’s spending with them and the exorbitant expense required to shuttle Simpson overseas and back to the U.S.

According to a source close to the Simpson camp, a private plane carrying Simpson and her entourage — which includes dad Joe, hairstylist Ken Paves, her personal assistant and a stylist — left L.A. and was due in Kuwait the evening of March 9. Total cost for the plane was approximately $150,000. (Reps for Simpson maintain that Simpson did not fly privately.)

Someone will be picking up the tab for accommodations as well, even though it’s been touted that Simpson will be forgoing her standard hotel suite to spend the night living like the troops in a bunk. The source close to Simpson predicts that any time spent in a bunk will last no longer than the time it takes for a photo.

“Jessica doesn’t sleep in tents or bunks the night before a concert. She needs to give a good performance — there’s no way Joe will want The Pussycat Dolls (who are also performing as part of the same show) to upstage his daughter. He’ll have her sleeping in a proper bed in the right environment.”

Other expenses include her stylist and makeup artist (who both charge approximately $6,000 per day), and Paves, whose day rate is a whopping $10,000, according to the Simpson source.

“This isn’t a charity show. The people around Jessica aren’t donating their time or cutting their rates as if this was Jess’s charity Operation Smile. Someone is picking up the tab, and it’s not going to be Jessica.”

When the concert is over, Simpson has about three hours for quality time with the troops before her plane takes off again. “Literally, she’s going to sing ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking,’ and she’s going to be walking herself right back onto that plane,” said the source.

“The decision for her to do this doesn’t make sense,” said the source. “Her album is not ready for promoting, she risks being upstaged by the Pussycat Dolls and there’s no way to come out of this without looking like a financial drain on the project.” (MySpace did not comment on who exactly is picking up the tab, but did say “Jessica was not paid for her appearance. This is a good thing she’s doing.”)

“She doesn’t even talk to her fans on MySpace. She has that odd SweetKisses.net site that was finally copied onto her MySpace.”

As an aside, Simpson is looking for someone to help her pick up the tab for SweetKisses.net too. There is a link on the page to donate to “help me out with covering server costs and other necessary expenses …”

If you don’t tune in to MySpace for the show, not to worry. There will be pictures available, as a magazine insider said that Joe Simpson will be taking some of the photos himself, like he did with Jessica’s last Operation Smile trip, and will be shopping an exclusive to the weekly mags for publication this week.

Sounds to me like the only reason Miz Simpson is doing this is for Miz Simpson. Toby Keith and Ted Nugent may not have Jessica’s physique, but they are a darn sight better military supporters.