![]() "They're saying, 'It says in my contract that this can't happen to me,' " Mrs. Meanwhile, her pleas to other celebrities to join a rally in Washington this summer against illegal labor practices have fallen on deaf ears. Gifford because Wal-Mart canceled its contract and put them out of work? And what are moralists to make of the fact that workers from the Honduran factory have criticized Mrs. Gifford is engaging the moral issues involved in sweatshop labor, few people beyond the politicians are applauding her crusade. "But they told me that I had a unique opportunity to make a difference by using what happened to me to stop the horrible practices of some of these manufacturers." ![]() ![]() "My first reaction was I don't need this," she said. Reich, she instead lent her name to the fight against sweatshops. Pataki of New York and United States Labor Secretary Robert B. Her first instinct was to discontinue her clothing line, but at the urging of Gov. Gifford's approach is to take the lemon that has been lobbed at her and try to make lemonade. When problems arise, their success in damage control can determine the lasting value of their celebrity, the prime commodity they have to sell.Ĭharacteristically, Mrs. Gifford, in short, has become Exhibit A in proving that what you don't know can hurt you, after all.Ĭelebrities make millions lending their names to enterprises they rarely visit in industries they know little about. ![]() ![]() Kernaghan recently apologized, saying he and his organization "never intended to hurt anyone personally and are truly sorry for any pain caused to Kathie Lee Gifford." The fact remains that the Kathie Lee name has become associated in the popular mind with the word "sweatshop." Never mind that Michael Jordan and Jaclyn Smith have come under criticism for endorsing products made in sweatshops. Never mind that Wal-Mart was responsible for producing the Kathie Lee Gifford clothing line. Overnight, the effervescent co-host of "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee," was branded a pariah after Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee Education Fund in Support of Worker and Human Rights in Central America, told Congress on April 29 that her clothing line was being made by 13- and 14-year-olds working 20-hour days in factories in Honduras. Two months ago, a labor activist pulled a thread and Kathie Lee Gifford's storybook life began to unravel. ![]()
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