Someone needs to tell Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks to get her husband Apollo Nida and make him have a seat somewhere until all his legal drama is cleared up. Like for real. The latest scandal circulating the web involves Apollo allegedly trying to rip off a charity for money. Coming on the heels of his well publicized charges of fraud and run-ins with the law, this is not good news for Apollo or his wife at all. This is not a case of all publicity equaling good publicity. This recent media tidbit is another damaging blow to Apollo’s already declining public image and brand.
The story goes something like this; Chase DeCarlo of Dio Bambini, which is a charity organization for battered women and children, made the astonishing claim that when they approached Apollo along with fellow RHOA star Kandi Buruss to attend a fundraiser event that he demanded payment where Kandi agreed to show the organization support free of charge. DeCarlo speaking to Radar said, “His people told me that I have to pay him everything up front and then they’ll send me a photograph to print on a flyer. I spoke to different celebrities, and he’s the only one who really wants to be paid before the event even happens.” Demanding money up front to attend a charity event is not even the half of Apollo’s latest shenanigans.
Apparently the event is scheduled to be held May 2, 2014, a date that will occur after Apollo’s next court appearance for his fraud charges on April 25, 2014. As it is rumored that Apollo is in the process of working out a plea deal with the feds and that the possibility of serving time in prison still looms, DeCarlo expressed fears that Apollo would take the money and run. DeCarlo noted, “I’m really, really leery that his court date is before the event. It makes sense why he’s pressuring me and wanting me to book him.”
Apollo actually followed up and spoke to Radar about DeCarlo’s claims and stated, “I have a marketing and booking company that books me and markets me and brands me…all of my stuff is official.” Apollo went on to explain that there was a clause in the contract he presented DeCarlo with that promises a refund of all appearance fees if he did not show up to the event. He quipped, “I’m not going to go to a charity event in Chicago for free” adding that his proposed fee of $2000 was in fact “very generous.”
You know, there is a lot that can be said about all of this charity mess. It is peculiar that the organization even approached Apollo about this fundraiser, aside from his pending charges he is already a convicted felon. Aside from that, you would think that the team Apollo has hired to market, book and brand him would not think of demanding money for him to attend a charity event. This guy needs to clean up his image stat; attending a charity event out of the goodness of his heart would have been a positive step in that direction.
Not that the argument for travel expenses as a reason for demanding the appearance fee is not a good one, it is just that the person making the argument has lost almost all credibility. This guy is alleged to have stolen upwards of $3,000,000 (three million) dollars from folks, it would seem that between that and his wife’s RHOA checks that he would not be strapped for only $2000 (two thousand) cash for traveling fees. A glance at the troubled Atlanta house husband’s Twitter feed paints a clear picture that he is trying to make some money right now. (He is actually on there hawking signed fitness DVD’s and cards for $6.99) It also shows that he still does not have all of his priorities straight.
When he isn’t tweeting about merchandise he has for sale or in response to media allegations, he is tweeting about hosting parties. Most recently, he hosted Kandi’s now husband Todd Tucker’s bachelor party. It definitely had us wondering if he had shelled out $5000-$8000 for the strippers at that party. It also had us wondering what kind of guy spends that type of money on strippers, brags about it on television in fact and then turns around and asks for not even half that amount as an attendance fee to support a charity event. Apollo took to YouTube to speak out on his own behalf saying, “For someone to do this to me, it’s completely erratic behavior.” It is unclear what he thinks anyone is actually doing to him and crystal clear that he is bringing this all on himself.
Maybe Apollo needs to just fire his marketing team because this fiasco made it clear that he needs better people in his corner right now. Whatever is going on with him, we here at CDL hopes he takes a seat somewhere for a while to focus on his family and legal troubles. Phaedra girl, you need to come get your husband and put him on time out before he gets himself into even more hot water. This is a big mess. We could use your help washing this all out. Please let us know what you think about this latest development in the ongoing Apollo Nida scandals. Post your thoughts in the comment section below!