March 29, 2018
Hillary Clinton got $7K less than Snooki for Rutgers speech. Does it get any worse?
By Jessica Remo
NJ.com
Earlier today, NJ Advance Media reported that Hillary Clinton was being paid $25,000 to speak at Rutgers University, for a speech about "politics, American democracy and her role in shaping women's political history." To some, this sounds like a nice chunk of change, especially considering that Clinton probably talks for free about "politics, American democracy and her role in shaping women's political history" every five minutes.
But to those who are familiar with the celebrity speaking circuit, it’s basically bubkes. Chump change. A drop in the DNC bucket.
Brenda Flanagan @FlanaganNJTV
Stage at Rutgers Athletic Center where former Sec of State Hillary Clinton will give a speech at 4:30pm. Expected to discuss current politics, her place in history of women’s politics. Sponsored by Eagleton Institute of Politics.
2:44 PM - Mar 29, 2018
Consider that in 2015, no less a statesman than Matthew McConaughey was paid $135,000 (plus travel and expenses — alright, alright, alright!) to speak at the University of Houston, and that Katie Couric cleared $110,000 in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma (pre-recession, sure, but still impressive!).
In fact, Rutgers has a history of shelling out considerably more that $25,000 to notable speakers. Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison made $30,000 in 2011. Bill Moyers received $35,000 to speak in 2015. And — wait for it — Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was given $32,000 for a Rutgers appearance that offered the sage advice, “Study hard, but party harder.”
Snooki’s fee came out of a different fund than the one used to pay Clinton, and — granted — Snooki wasn’t giving a formal speech so much as spilling out her Snooki schtick.
But still. In a lifetime of indignities — Bill and Monica; losing the Presidential election to a reality television star; that unfortunate India incident a few weeks ago when she fell down the steps (twice), lost her shoe, and later slipped in the hotel bathtub and fractured her wrist — is there anything worse than being paid $7K less than a woman who made her name blacking out on reality television and referring to herself as a “meatball"?
We think not.
The conservative media, of course, pounced
They were all too happy to point out that in 2014, Clinton's standard fee for speeches at universities was $200,000.
Bill Mitchell
✔
@mitchellvii
SHE CAN NO LONGER SELL INFLUENCE: Hillary Clinton is back in N.J. today for a sold-out event at Rutgers. She'll be paid $25K. http://s.nj.com/ijvgr2d
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/03/hillary_clinton_25k_rutgers_speech_snooki.html
| 
