An Obamanation!: Jennifer Lopez And Marc Anthony Are Too Cheap To Pay For Inauguration Tickets

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are inspiring quite a bit of animosity for their decision to attend the Latino Inaugural Ball in DC on January 18th even though the couple did not vocally or financially support Barack Obama during his campaign. One person connected to the campaign described the two as:

“vile opportunists for worming themselves into anything Obama related even though they had nothing to do with his win.”

Is this news to anyone? Perhaps because of Jen and Marc’s notoriously lavish lifestyle, it seems that money lies at the root of people’s distaste over their attendance:

“They haven’t given him, his campaign or the inauguration a cent,” a source said - likening the couple to Sean Combs, whose reps tried to procure inauguration tickets for him for free.

A friend of the couple (their publicists?), however, defends them by saying that they aren’t coming as politically-minded supporters so much as performers and entertainers:

“Unlike Puffy, they are doing something - they are performing. And lots of people, including Rihanna and Mariah Carey, are performing and didn’t donate. A lot of celebrities are showing up as guests of magazines or political people and not paying anything or doing anything. Marc and Jennifer shouldn’t be reviled for that.”

We’re going to have to agree. Even though some have pointed to Marc’s refusal to perform for Obama during a Latino-oriented event in Orlando two weeks before the election, we’re going to stick with the view that Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez are, before anything else, celebrities. Their job is to sell themselves as an image, and they have made the decision — for better or for worse — not to align that image with any political platform. That they want to bolster their image by performing for a Latino event for a winning candidate should not come as a surprise. As their friend pointed out, Rihanna and Mariah Carey are also set to perform at inauguration events without ever having publicly aligned themselves to any particular school of thought or specific candidate.

This seems more about resentment over Jennifer and Marc’s wealth and fame than over any sort of political conviction or alliance the couple might have. And, really? The public at large will likely to continue to see them as decadent, out-of-touch celebrities either way. Frankly, we applaud them for not taking the path of painting themselves as representative voices for us as a Latina when it comes to politics.

Unless, maybe, they decide to get hotter hairdos.

J.LO, MARC ‘WORMING’ INTO O [NY Post]