Not Even YouTube Can Make the MPTF Decision Palatable

Not Even YouTube Can Make the MPTF Decision Palatable

Published: August 03, 2009 @ 1:44 pm
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By Richard Stellar

Another public relations attempt by the MPTF looks like it is crashing and burning at this very moment.

 

Hawk Kock, the dapper yet grizzled self-appointed spokesperson for the fund, has taken to YouTube to broadcast yet more of its message of doom.

 

This 'tour de farce' that is making the rounds of the various unions and guilds now comes to you over your own computer.

 

As of this writing -- check this out quickly, as it will probably be pulled once Jeff Katzenberg gets wind of it -- Hawk is being publicly lambasted by viewers, as his ratings have soared to just 1 star.

 

Can Hawk's explanation of the MPTF Board of Director's stance on the long-term care facility's closing be the "Mall Cop" of YouTube? Has the MPTF once again stuck its foot in its mouth when it comes to explaining their position?

 

You looked great on that video, Hawk. I thought I was watching a modern day Chad Everett from the old series "Medical Center," where he breaks the news to a huddled and fearful family that their parents 'didn't make it'. Great production values and nice haircut.

 

However, the public is seeing through the used car salesman's Kash for Klunkers pitch and the slick production values.

 

Who's going to get fired for this digital abomination? Some hack that laid the YouTube egg, or maybe (please God) someone high up on the MPTF executive food chain?

 

Hawk, if it was your idea -- nice knowing you.

 

What a turkey.

 

Let's get real, Hawk. We are all very sorry for your mother's recent death at the Motion Picture Home. I'm very happy that she was among her loving family and the MPTF caregivers that bestow as much love as they do professional medical and social care. She was indeed blessed.

 

Why then do you want my mother, and the elder and infirm loved ones of other

motion picture and television families, to end their days at strange and often shoddy facilities, amongst strangers?

 

Have you personally seen any of the facilities that we have been recommended to visit?

 

I have -- Hawk, you wouldn't kennel your dog in some of them. I know that's a mantra that I've repeated, but it's true. Why don't you check any of them out?

Better yet, why don't you look beyond the balance sheets that your hired guns and consultants have delivered to Tillman and Ellis on a silver platter.

 

Why don't you question what exactly their end game is? Why don't you look deep into their eyes and use the common sense that your mother bestowed upon you. You'll see death and darkness.

 

Ask them for the memo that an anonymous medical professional on your staff circulated warning of deaths by transfer trauma. Ask to see the article in the nursing magazine where Seth Ellis described the new paradigm of 'successful aging'. 

 

And what about those caregiver teams. Do you really think they're going to be available 24/7 to oversee medical care at these far flung facilities?

 

Have you tried navigating the Ventura Fwy or the 405 in the afternoon? Do you think this plan is viable?

 

It's not.

Tags: MPTF
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Winner of the Los Angeles Press Club's Best Blog Award for his Hollyblogs, and as one of the voices of the grassroots coalition that saved long-term care for the motion picture and television industry, Stellar's "vituperative blog on TheWrap'" (Vanity Fair) has caused great discomfort to the Motion Picture and Television Fund Board and Management, and seemingly added to the weight of the "refrigerator that Jeffrey Katzenberg carried on his back" during the struggle for the Motion Picture Home's Long Term Care.

As Katzenberg remarked to a journalist regarding Stellar, "He's annoying as hell, but I get it." On the other hand, a major donor to the Motion Picture Home remarked "we may not always agree with Richard, but we ignore him at our peril."

Stellar lives in Woodland Hills, a stone's throw from the Motion Picture Home with his wife of 27 years, two dogs and a 1965 Epiphone Casino.

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