Feb
28
Ryan Idol Charity Scandal Update
February 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We wrote last week about Ryan Idol‘s ties to an enveloping charity scandal involving Birmingham, Alabama mayor Larry Langford and his aide John Katopodis (click here and here for our previous stories). Agent David Forest, Mr. Idol’s former manager, gave an interview last week during which he spilled his long, tumultuous history with Mr. Katopodis. I was present for that interview and so was a writer for The Birmingham News. They’re getting a lot of mileage out of the gay porn connection, however tenuous (“Bizarre history of John Katopodis, gay porn star Ryan Idol goes way back“). In any case, CLICK HERE for the details…
The new Birmingham News article spells out some of the details of the Katopodis-Forest-Idol lovefest, and was prompted by this statement from Mr. Katopodis: “There has never been an inappropriate relationship between me… and anyone associated with any of the charities in which I’ve been involved. Furthermore there has never been any payment to anyone for work they didn’t legitimately do.”
Calling the story “bizarre,” the paper notes, “This much is clear: Public money, including a million dollars from Jefferson County, went to charities run by Katopodis, including Computer Help for Kids. Those charities paid Idol ‚Äî a longtime Katopodis associate ‚Äî at least $30,000 for computer jobs he was never trained to do. That’s enough to make it wrong. But lordy, it does get more interesting.” A Birmingham News blog item (“Porn stars, pop stars and Birmingham politics“) spills more sordid details (wait until you get to the part about the trip to Italy and a private audience with the Pope).
What all of this does establish is that Mr. Katopodis has a long association with Mr. Idol, who was paid via a publicly funded charity to perform some kind of computer work. But given their past relations, it smells fishy. If they can find someone to testify to any computer work Mr. Idol may have performed, he has little to be concerned about. If they can’t, things could get sticky for Mr. Idol. No pun intended.
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