Well this is a very odd development indeed. Mother Jones, whose 47% blockbuster surely has already won the prize for most awesome video of the cycle, has gotten its hands on this truly weird conversation between Scott Brown and some interviewer. The background is also bizarre: the video comes from a disgruntled record company executive who claims that Brown and his daughter Ayla “backed out of a deal to develop and promote the American Idol semifinalist’s career.”
Wayne Laakko, a co-owner of Double Deal Brand Records, says losing Ayla Brown “nearly bankrupted” his company. He says she agreed to make at least two more albums and that the Browns owe the label a “substantial amount of money” for merchandise, production, and public relations work. (Brown’s attorney denies the allegations.) Now, Laakko says, he’s “disgruntled” and is “having a little fun.”
Senator Brown was deeply involved in managing Ayla’s career, and this Laakko fellow claims that Brown cost him a lot of money.
According to Laakko, relations between the Browns and Double Deal crumbled after Scott Brown was elected to the Senate in a January 2010 special election. “My company was the one that worked for Ayla right after she got off [American] Idol” in 2006, Laakko says. “Once [Scott Brown] entered the national stage he told us to get lost.” … Documents obtained by Mother Jones show Brown managed Ayla’s relationship with Double Deal, and was a partner in the venture.
For his part, Laakko says: “From my experience in the four years we worked together, Scott was intimately involved in all aspects of the project. I talked to him more than Ayla during the partnership.”
Scott Brown helped to manage his daughter’s career until “a few weeks” after he was elected, according to a Boston Magazine profile of Ayla. But Laakko says he remained in “constant contact” with Brown through April 2010, and anything the label planned for Ayla had to be cleared by either Brown or one of his aides, including Boston political consultant Eric Fehrnstrom…. Laakko claims that he still has a contract with Ayla but can’t afford to sue her or her father to enforce the deal. That’s because the label spent a “great deal of money” promoting Ayla Brown before Scott Brown “walked away from the very large amount of money that he owed us,” claims Ed Gertler, Laakko’s business partner and a minority owner of the label. (Gertler says he “very much” supports Brown’s Democratic rival in the Massachusetts Senate race, Elizabeth Warren.)
Brown’s attorney, of course, denies all the allegations. In any event, here’s the video and a transcript.
Scott Brown: Uh, let’s see…
Interviewer: Who else would you stalk?
Brown: …No, just kidding, that was a joke.
[Laughter]
Brown: Uh, let’s see, who would I stalk? That’s a good [unintelligible]. You can get me [garbled] I’m taking pictures, I’m doing paperwork. How about, uh, probably one or all of those pussycat girls.
Interviewer: Oh there we go, the Pussycat Dolls
Brown: (Laughter) You know, whatever they are.
For context, here’s who he’s talking about:
Supposedly, this guy has more videos coming. Should be interesting to see what they are.
bostonshepherd says
That Brown is a potential stalker, or doesn’t honor his side of a contract?
karenc says
mean that he would stalk anyone. Though it is pretty creepy that he would even joke about that – especially as they look to be his daughters’ age.
On the contract stuff, if he genuinely had a provable case would a lawyer take a case like that on a contingency basis. If so, it seems odd he is saying that the reason he could not pursue it is money. That he is instead attacking Brown by releasing embarrassing videos is pretty disgusting. This is likely embarrassing, but it would not seem something any Brown supporter would consider a deal breaker.
David says
Pretty straightforward, I’d have thought.
bostonshepherd says
Maybe you meant both.
Bob Neer says
At least, you have to admit that.
bluewatch says
It’s about a candidate’s character.
whosmindingdemint says
who has visions of grandeur:
daily talks with the POTUS, secret meetings with kings and queens, grandson of a supreme court justice, exhibitionist, seeks fame through his daughter
and has a persecution complex:
claims to have lived in 17 places by age 18, fought off his mother’s endless array of attackers, claims to have been molested as a child, runs as an underdog even as an incumbent.
You might question his mental stability.
Patrick says
http://www.youtube.com/user/doubledealrecords/videos?flow=grid&view=0