“I guess I knew it before,” Nicki Hunter said, “but it took cancer for me to realize how many friends I have.”
Hunter might unwittingly become a poster girl for lymphoblastic lymphoma, because despite several rounds of chemotherapy, she looks good. How she feels is a different matter. After two benefits held in her honor last week, by Saturday’s culminating event at the Playboy Mansion she was looking a little tired.
Money has been pouring in for Hunter from friends in and out of the porn industry. This week Kylie Ireland and Ginger Lynn (I keep saying “Gina Lynn”, and I apologize) cash in on a $3,000 double date they auctioned on eBay, there are currently two benefit all-sex DVDs in production or in the works, one of which is a Cousin Stevie‘s Pussy Party, and random cash comes in via everything from lap dances to autographed DVDs donated by various hot friends.
All of this to combat medical fees deep in the six figures.
The business of charity in the entertainment industry is often ambiguous and confusing. How much money raised goes to the intended recipient? Organizations like PAW (Protecting Adult Welfare) have been criticized for their overhead. People like Asia Carrera, who was widowed last year, was in the days immediately after her husband’s death chided for letting her fans know she was broke.
People get sensitive about being asked for money; they forget that famous doesn’t always equal rich. Amber Peach received death threats from a spelling-challenged MySpace reader when she encouraged donations to Hunter’s charity, HunterCARE.
And sometimes philanthropic efforts break down. Last Saturday HunterCARE was to have been the beneficiary of a party at the Playboy Mansion. The ACE Entertainment Group, which throws upwards of ten events at the Playboy Mansion during its 70-event yearly party season, was contracted by Sacramento’s Maddbacker Foundation, a group founded by former Cincinnati Bengal Adrian Ross, to coordinate an event there that would feature a silent auction and other fundraising efforts for everything from HunterCARE to the Make A Wish Foundation.
More than 30 female adult performers, mostly coordinated through Lighthouse Talent, were to roam the Playboy grounds in Holmby Hills selling autograohed DVDs and lap dances to the mostly-football fan crowd, who would also be entertained by Snoop Dogg and VH-1 personality Hal Sparks.
According to people connected with ACE, reps of the Maddbacker Foundation gave away more tickets than they were allotted, and further told celebrity guests to just show up at the Playboy Mansion, whereas other ticket holders, the press, and adult performers waited for shuttles at a UCLA parking structure a mile away.
I was told to arrive at UCLA by 6:45. I did, and was later joined by AVN’s Peter Warren, Brian Uptgraft from the Hardcore Source, Tony Batman, and four representatives of XBiz (two of whom were from XFanz; I later found that organizers weren’t aware they were all from the same organization). Immediately we found that none of us was on any list kept by StubHub, the ticket seller, or Maddbacker. As we were a collegial group, we waited in the warm parking structure.
Some of us waited over four hours, while others stayed just one or two and wisely went home.
By 10 p.m. only a few press were left in the parking structure. Cousin Stevie, who negotiated Nicki Hunter’s part in the event with ACE, was joined by a limo full of girls, including Jada Fire, Amber Peach, Bettie Rage, Cossette Angel, Shannon Kelly, and Veronica Rayne. Nicki Hunter and her entourage had driven directly to the Mansion around 9 p.m., and by virtue of the grounds not yet being at capacity (that night’s capacity was 500 guests) and the fact that the entourage consisted mostly of hot girls like herself and Tory Lane, were let in.
We at UCLA had by this time been informed that we were not on any list and that tickets were not available for us. Some of the girls had been given tickets but were told they could only get to the Mansion via shuttle buses, so the limo they arrived in was useless. At 10:30 ten of us got in the limo and decided to drive to the Mansion.
We were stopped by a Mansion guard who didn’t know who we were (I wisely did not show myself because I have hairy legs and no breasts). Cousin Stevie explained that he was a co-producer of the Nicki Hunter benefit. He was not let in. Veronica Rayne explained that the girls were there volunteering for the benefit, you know, to give lap dances.
The guard did not acknowledge Rayne, but instead said to the limo driver, “Take them back where you found them.”
This was unforgivable and rude, no matter how much Playboy tries to convince itself it is not an organization that sells sex. Still, when Rayne shouted that “this is why I work for Hustler” I doubt the guard went back to tell Hef.
“It was the largest traffic jam in Holmby Hills history,” said Cousin Stevie, on whom security was called and who snuck around to the back gate, where he was finally let in after ACE owner Max Soto paid an additional thousand bucks. There Stevie joined his wife and Nicki Hunter. By this time it was 11:30 and the in-house caterers were dismantling the party.
Nicki Hunter had dragged a table into a corner and decided to enjoy herself.
“It is what it is,” she said.
At UCLA, over a hundred StubHub ticketholders, who had each paid over $1000 for tickets, were still waiting for shuttles. They never got in. Celebrities personally invited by Maddbacker publicist Jameela Jackson and told to just show up at the Mansion, met with mixed results. Miami Dolphin and Maddbacker partner Joey Porter chartered a bus for friends. A StubHub rep told me that StubHub had oversold the event. At the check-in area in the parking structure, I was told, a fight broke out and tickets were stolen from ACE representatives. I didn’t see this.
What I do know is that by the time I got to the Mansion, no one was being let in, and that any communication between the Maddbacker reps and the ACE people had broken down. No one knew who was on the correct list, and by a certain point it didn’t matter. Playboy, meanwhile, had planned for 500 people and was letting no one else in.
When the limo dropped me off at my car at 11:15, there were still people at UCLA waiting for shuttles. “It’s not happening,” I told one guy from San Diego. “Who’s going to refund my ticket?” he asked angrily, getting in my face (he had seen me step out of a limo).
I told him I wasn’t sure; I don’t think anyone broke even other than Playboy.
ACE owner Soto said that the Maddbacker partnership was a one-time event. “Our other events we handle on our own,” he said.
So charity doesn’t necessarily begin at Holmby Hills.
“One important thing is that Nicki got into the Mansion,” Cousin Stevie said, “and she knows people care about her. There were a lot of people out in force to support her … even if none of them got in.”
This is, in its way, encouraging. Perhaps the individual, thoughtful donation route is the way to go. Hunter is upbeat and is a tough chick. She is currently the adult world’s object of philanthropy, and there is no one better.
Donations can be sent via HunterCARE, where there will be a PayPal link available soon.
Previously: Wig flipping with Nicki Hunter; Double the Nicki Hunter benefits; The Playboy Mansion in a nutshell
See also: HunterCARE
What a kluster-fuck! Next time that guy from San Diego should just go to good ol’ Tijuana! The original Playboy Mansion.
Have you guys seen Khan Tusion destroy Nikki in Meatholes? This woman is worthless. She has KIDS, too. They are so proud of her!!
I got in after discussing things with “cousin Stevie” in the UCLA parking lot and deciding to take matters into my own hands.
And I helped Nicki Hunter onto the “stage” precariously perched above the grotto, being used by Playboy radio Night Calls hosts Christy Canyon and Ginger Lynn to interview the guests. I hope my 1000 made it to Nicki’s care. B.