New York: The couple who crashed President Barack Obama's first state dinner are peddling their story to broadcast networks for hundreds of thousands of dollars, a television executive says.
The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly discuss bookings, said that representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi contacted networks to urge them to "get their bids in" for an interview. The executive said the Virginia couple was looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range.
Meanwhile, CNN confirmed that the Salahis had cancelled an appearance they had scheduled for "Larry King Live" on Monday.
Network news divisions say they don't pay for interviews. But for eagerly sought interviews in the past, they have offered to pay for access to exclusive material, such as pictures or videos from their subjects.
Representatives for the couple did not immediately return telephone and e-mail requests for comment. Michaele Salahis is a reality TV hopeful trying to get on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of DC" Her and her husband's success in getting into the state dinner Tuesday without an invitation embarrassed the White House and Secret Service.
The agency acknowledged its officers never checked whether the couple were on the guest list before letting them onto the White House grounds. But it initially insisted Obama was never endangered by the security breach because the couple
--like others at the dinner -- had gone through magnetometers.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 29, 2009, 16:58