Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston: White Trash, Joey Buttafuoco, and John Wayne Bobbitt

Levi Johnston, the newest “Joey Buttafuoco” Minor Type Celebrity on the Block?

The Truth Behind the “Sarah Palin called Our Family White Trash”

Celebrity Media Darling Levi Johnston and friend

There’s no doubt that the MSM/National Enquirer type fascination with Sarah Palin will continue as long as she’s perceived as a political threat and while Levi Johnston continues along the path of the Minor Celebrity Bell Curve in the footsteps of such notables of Joey Buttafuoco and John Wayne Bobbitt.

Yesterday we published Sarah Palin Fires Back at Levi Johnston: Johnston Useful Tool for Sarah Foes, where we noted that, even though it had been almost a year since Palin “lost” to Obama, the obsession with Sarah Palin continues:

It’s been almost a year since Sarah Palin lost the election to Barack Obama. Even so, the press and media continues its fascination with the ex-Governor of Alaska by putting on the “stand”, “star witness” for the Palin “prosecution”, 19-yr-old Levi Johnston.

Of course, Palin didn’t actually run against Obama, but you’d think, judging by the attention garnered in the media and the continual Presidential pop quizzes given Palin that were never given to Obama, that it was Palin, and not, you know, what’s his name, McCain, who was on the top ticket. In fact, I’ve actually read comments on other sites where the person who wrote the comment actually believed Palin was running for President and not Vice-President. Think on this: how many former VP candidates has the press continued to hound almost a full year after the election? Indeed, how many people can actually name the second banana in past Presidential elections of the party who lost the election?

In this installment we took a look at various statements made by useful tool, or fool, depending on how you view 19-yr-old Johnston, and his latest antics. Antics which include Johnston claiming Sarah Palin repeatedly referred to her Downs Syndrome baby Trig as “retarded”, and that Sarah called Johnston’s family “white trash”, as well as Levi’s foray into celebrity “fame” via an upcoming “spread” with PlayGirl and a purported “tell-tale” tome.

We decided to take a closer look at the circumstances that may have led to the Palin-Johnston “feud” as well as the “advice” being given young Johnston, whether he’ll succeed in “showbiz” or end up with the type notoriety of other D- list minor celebrities such as Joey Buttafuoco or John Wayne Bobbit.

An April 23, 2009, interview with Larry King gives some clues to Levi’s thoughts during this period regarding the circumstances surrounding the purported feud between Levi Johnston, his family, and the Palins. Clues that include the fact that, even though Levi and Bristol Palin’s baby Tripp was four months old, Levi had yet to pay child support, and, that Levi’s mother Sherri and sister Mercede, may be factors in the Johnston-Palin “Family Feud”.

Levi Johnston: I’m not doing any child support right now until we go to court. I have everything my boy needs back home: diapers, toys, everything.
-Larry King Live, April 23, 2009

During the King interview, Levi stated that he wasn’t “doing child support until we go to court”. Even though Levi talked about going to “court”, prior to this statement, Levi claimed he didn’t have a lawyer because he “felt” he and Bristol could work things “out” without a lawyer:

King: Do you have a lawyer?

Johnston: No.

King: Why not?

Johnston: We’re not in a big fight with the Palins. I still like the family very much. I think we can work things out. I don’t think either one of us want to go to lawyers and try to fight for custody and stuff like this.

Levi also stated that while he dated Bristol, the Palin family treated him “like a son” and that Todd Palin had “helped” Levi “with a lot of things”.

Levi stated that, while he could go visit his baby, he couldn’t take the baby with him, and that, he didn’t know the reason “why”.

Also at the interview, Levi’s mother Sherri, and his sister Mercede. In regards as to why Levi wasn’t being allowed to take baby Tripp to his home, Sherri stated that she was “still trying to figure out the reason why”, while Mercede stated that the reason may have been due to Mercede’s “friends”.

Sherri stated that she had to talked to Bristol to see if Sherri could pick up Tripp and take him back to Sherri’s home:

King: Have you contacted them?

Sherry Johnston: Not personally. I have talked to Bristol, seeing if I could take Tripp, come over and get him, bring him to the house. But that hasn’t happened.

King: What did she say?

Sherry Johnston: She said that she would call me back.

King: And didn’t?

Sherry Johnston: No.

King: Do you have a guess as to why they’re being this way?

Sherry Johnston: I don’t know. Things started changing different, I would say, I noticed in November. Things were starting to chill down, not getting as friendly and I’m not sure [why]..

Despite Levi’s prior claim that he didn’t have a lawyer, Sherri had this to say:

King: Now, he says you do have a lawyer?

Sherry Johnston: Yes, we do. We want to keep this on the lowdown and, you know, not start trouble. But, obviously, if things don’t change, that’s our next action when we get back …

King then asked Sherri about her arrest on drug charges shortly before Tripp’s birth in December and what the “status” of the case was:

Sherry Johnston: I can’t go there right now. When I have my day in court, then I would love to be able to set the record straight. There’s a lot of misconception out there, but I can’t go any further than that right now.

King asked Levi if he had finished high school. Levi responded that he hadn’t, but that he would “take the final test”.

Sherri Johnston stated that she noticed “things” began to change in “November” and that Sherri “didn’t have a clue” as to the reason why. In our prior article we noted that Levi had stated that he had lived with the Palins for two months after the election which would put the time frame of when he moved out, close to the time of Tripp’s birth. What’s interesting to note is that Sherri, 42, was arrested on December 18, charged with selling the drug Oxycontin to undercover investigators. According to Huffington Post, on January 5, Sherri plead not guilty to six felony counts relating to the sale and possession of Oxycontin, a controlled substance. Huffpo reported that Sherri showed up at court, alone, and that she admitted she was unemployed, in the midst of a divorce, and was living on medical disability payments and child support.

Mercede, who showed off the tattoo of her brother’s name inked on her wrist during an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show in early April, was the one who started the Palin’s called us “white trash” rumor on a friend’s MySpace page in January, shortly after Tripp’s birth.

From Gawker:

For those who have trouble reading the prose of this fine product of the Wasilla school system, here’s a translation:

Levi is in a bit of a haze right now… Umm, I’m not allowed to see my nephew and my mom isn’t either. We aren’t Palins so therefore we are white trash and Bristol doesn’t want her baby around us. So mom and I are really upset over it. I just hope Levi pulls his head out of his butt and lets us see our nephew and her grandbaby.

On February 13, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Sherri’s court appointed attorney had been replaced by “high profile” attorney Rex Butler who succeeded in getting Sherri’s trial date pushed back from March until May. The Daily News gave more details on Sherri’s arrest:

Investigators with the Mat-Su drug unit arrested Johnston in December at her home off Wasilla-Fishhook Road. She sold pills in the Wasilla Target parking lot to informants working with investigators, according to court documents filed by Alaska State Troopers.

Which leads us back to Sherri’s claim that she didn’t have a clue as to why the Palin’s wouldn’t allow baby Tripp to visit Sherri’s home.

We’re not going to argue that, based upon Sherri’s drug bust, she should have had a clue as to why the Palins might be hesitant to allow Tripp a trip to his grandmother Sherri’s house. Instead, we’re going to point out that it’s not out of the realm of logical thinking to be hesitant to allow a small baby in the home, or care of a woman indicted on multiple felony drug charges even if she’s the “grandmother” of the baby. In this case, the grandmother of Levi Johnston’s baby. As for allowing Levi to take Tripp, during this period, Levi was both unemployed, living with Sherri, and, hadn’t addressed the issue of child support.

We also wanted to address Levi’s claim that he wouldn’t even “address” the subject of child support until he “went to court” which seemed to imply that Levi felt it was up to the courts to decide when he should start supporting his child.

We also believe it was Sherri’s actions that affected the Palin’s decision to keep Tripp away from an potentially unsafe environment, and rightfully so.

Then there’s the attorney, Rex Butler, who not only became Sherri’s attorney but also took over the reins of giving “guidance” to Levi, whom Butler later stated “was worth millions”.

On September 3, during an interview on NPR, associate editor of the Anchorage Press Brendan Joel Kelley gave details into Levi Johnston’s “rise in the media”.

From NPR:

SIEGEL: How’s all this playing in Alaska, and who’s running the media campaign for this teenage hockey-playing high school dropout from Wasilla. Well, joining us is Brendan Joel Kelley of the Anchorage Press, that’s an alternative weekly. And first, Brendan Joel Kelley, who is the coaching staff of team Levi here?

Mr. BRENDAN JOEL KELLEY (Associate Editor, Anchorage Press): The coaching staff is actually his mother’s attorney, Rex Butler, who defended her in the OxyContin case. And then a private investigator who works alongside Rex, named Tank Jones.

SIEGEL: And they’re guiding Levi Johnston through this national media campaign?

Mr. KELLEY: Yeah, they’ve sort of switched their roles from that of defense attorney and private investigator into, you know, agents at CAA and are basically marketing the young man.

SIEGEL: You interviewed Levi Johnston?

Mr. KELLEY: I did, about four or five weeks ago. It was in Rex Butler’s office alongside Tank Jones. When I asked Levi a question, his eyes would dart to one or the other of them to make sure that he could answer such questions.

Kelley noted the contradictions between what Levi stated in both the Vanity Fair article and the interview on Larry King Live relating to whether the Palins had urged Levi to let them adopt Tripp and that the Palins had tried to keep Bristol’s pregnancy a secret. Kelley also noted that while Butler was working pro-bono with Sherri, Butler had made a “deal” with Levi, that Butler would get a “cut” of any “deals” Butler made on Levi’s behalf.

One such deal is Levi’s upcoming “full-frontal” spread for Playgirl online. Purportedly Levi is “working out” for the upcoming “full-frontal spread”.

For those unfamiliar with Playgirl, the glossy online nude men site isn’t associated with Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire. Due to falling sales, the last original glossy Playgirl magazine issue was January/February 2009. Playgirl is published by Blue Horizon Media, the same entity that puts out hardcore “Celebrity Skin”, and “Hawk”. While Levi may believe that posing in Playgirl would mean an opportunity for bare it all for the “ladies”, it’s been well-documented that at least 40% of the “viewership” of Playgirl are gay men.

In Playgirl’s Queer Canard, written by former Playgirl senior editor Judy Cole, Cole gave insight into the naked “truth” about Playgirl, whether it was for women, slanted for gay men, or somewhere “in between”:

Who really reads Playgirl? Every few years the magazine conducts a rather unscientific reader survey, and, drawing also from subscriber data, they tally demographic statistics and make their pronouncements. The official conclusion is that men account for somewhere between 18 and 25 percent of Playgirl’s total readership. Of course statistics are pliable. During my tenure, I was told that Playgirl’s statisticians routinely counted all subscribers who entered an initial in place of a first name (as in “F. Imaman”) as women. When you consider this, as well the likelihood that some men respond to surveys under female aliases, the figures begin to shift.

Based on the information I had, and the sampling of readers I heard from over the years, I would estimate that 40 percent of Playgirl’s readers are men.

Cole goes on to explain one of the reasons why gay men like to peruse Playgirl:

Playgirl gives its gay readership something that they can’t get from magazines geared directly at their demographic, which is precisely why so many of them want it in the first place. Time and again, gay men have told me that they actually enjoy the illusion that the Playgirl models are straight, since it enhances the fantasy of persuading the meaty objects of their desire to defect to the other side.

While Cole believed the number of gay readers hovered around 40% other estimates range from 30-50%:

Though the magazine is marketed to heterosexual women, Playgirl’s then-editor-in-chief Michele Zipp said in 2003, “The gay readership is about 30%.” She went on to add, “It’s ‘Entertainment for Women’ because there’s no other magazine out there that caters to women in the way we do, but we love our gay readers, as well.” [1] Also, in 2003, Mark Graff, President of Trans Digital Media, the brand management firm for Playgirl TV, stated that 50% of Playgirl’s readership are gay males.

While we do note that there’s no crime in Levi Johnston seeking to cash in on his unexpected “fame”, we would like to point out that the foundation of Levi’s fame stems solely from Johnson’s association with Sarah Palin and her family. Prior to Johnston’s attention from Rex Butler and the press, Johnston was a high-school dropout from tiny Wasilla, Alaska. To the press, Johnston is only a gift as long as he keeps on “giving” the type of bon mots that portray Sarah Palin in a negative light. Meanwhile, it’s Rex Butler who is handling Levi’s “career”, a career based upon notoriety, much like Joey Buttafuoco and John Wayne Bobbitt, while Levi seems poised to become the latest “minor” D List celebrity on the block.

Joey Buttafuoco

Buttafuoco’s claim to fame stemmed from the 1992 attempt on his wife’s life by Buttafuoco’s underage mistress, Amy Fisher. Fisher was convicted and served seven years in prison, Buttafuoco served four months in jail for statutory rape. In 1993, The Amy Fisher Story was released, starring Drew Barrymore as Fisher and Anthony John Denizen as Buttafuoco.

Buttafuoco became a “minor” celebrity, appearing on Celebrity Boxing, which, ironically he was slated to box infamous minor celebrity John Wayne Bobbitt. Buttafuoco later appeared in several films.

John Wayne Bobbitt

And then there’s John Wayne Bobbitt, whose rise to minor celebrity fame stemmed from the sensational trial of Bobbitt’s wife Lorena, who cut off Bobbitt’s penis in 1993. A jury found Lorena not guilty by reason of insanity while Bobbitt, who had his penis reattached, attempted to cash in by way of forming an unsuccessful band, The Severed Parts. Bobbitt appeared in the porn films, John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut, and Frankenpenis. In 1998 he made an appearance at a WWF Wrestling Monday Night Raw. After Lorena’s trial, Bobbitt wound up getting arrested seven times for crimes ranging from assault to grand larceny. Bobbitt moved to Las Vegas where he worked as a bar tender, limousine driver, mover, and tow truck operator, and a minister.

It’s apparent that Levi’s celebrity shelf-life is limited to those who have an interest in bashing Sarah Palin, and whether Levi can continue to “deliver the goods”. In our opinion, he’s already made a key mistake by making the pistachio commercial which, in our opinion, flat out, denigrated his son. Also, posing for Playgirl, may, or may not pan out in regards to furthering Levi’s celebrity career, but, upon research, may make himself a future gay “icon”.

We’ve also noticed that Levi continues to claim that the Palin’s called his family “white trash”. The only evidence we could find was Levi’s sister Mercede’s comment where she stated on a MySpace page that she believed that the Palin’s “thought” her family was white trash.

If Levi is concerned about the white trash label then perhaps his family should try to act less like what could be construed as white trash behavior. Behavior that mimics Jerry Springer Show topics. Topics such as mother Sherri selling Oxycontin in the local Target parking lot-Sherri plead guilty to one count and is awaiting sentencing-sister Mercede’s “Levi” tattoo on her wrist and whining about the Palins in MySpace posts. And, Levi not accepting commercials that denigrate his son’s birth, doling out to the press “items” that harm both his son, and the mother of his son’s family, and realizing that most fathers know they should support their child well before it’s time to go to court.

As for Levi’s rise to media fame, we believe, using the Minor Celebrity Curve, that Levi, or someone else, is setting Levi up to become the newest “Joey Buttafuoco-John Wayne Bobbitt” kid on the minority celebrity block.

By LBG

Image – Joey Buttafuoco
Image - John Wayne Bobbitt
Image - Levi Johnston

Tags: Levi Johnston, Palins, Playgirl, Sarah Palin, Sherri Johnston, Trig, Tripp