The CBS News producer who attempted to start a wine label called Jesus Juice while he was covering the Michael Jackson trial is beginning to backtrack after his activities were exposed.Posted on 11/08/2005 11:22:28 AM PST by RatherBiased.com
The CBS News producer who attempted to start a wine label called Jesus Juice while he was covering the Michael Jackson trial is beginning to backtrack after his activities were exposed.
After NewsBusters broke the story Sunday, other media outlets picked up our scoop including the Associated Press, TheSmokingGun.com and MSNBC's "Countdown." Since that time, the producer, Bruce Rheins, and his wife, Dawn Westlake, have removed all Jesus Juice material from their respective web sites.
The New York Daily News spoke to Rheins yesterday, he disingenuously told the paper he never intended to make money from the offensive wine label:
"My wife and I are hobby winemakers. We made a few bottles for friends. We never wanted to sell it. We only trademarked it because we didn't want other people to try to make money off it.
"I apologize to anybody who is offended by this. It was an irreverent idea that, in hindsight, I would discard."
That explanation rings a little hollow, however, considering that the Los Angeles-based duo were selling merchandise bearing the wine's logo, a hybrid picture of a Christ figure sporting Jackson-esque clothing, through the web site CafePress.com. Some of the proffered items included wall clocks, mugs, and t-shirts.
Since we broke the story, Westlake (who operates the CafePress.com virtual store) has removed all Jesus Juice items from her online offerings. NewsBusters has preserved two of the pages, however. Click here to see the JJ clock, here to see the JJ t-shirt and here to see Rheins posing with a JJ mug and t-shirt.
Rheins's spin also is contradicted by a diary entry his wife posted on her personal site this past July:
"We continued with our chores…canning 10 quarts of peach preserves from our overly productive peach tree, making merlot (from scratch…since, yes, we bought the Jesus Juice trademark…you think I’m joking? I’m not!)"
Later in the same entry, Westlake
describes a trip to Solvang, California, a small town with a number of wineries. After a little description, she regrets having to leave:
"All too soon, it was time to leave. But, I'll be back! Maybe if Jesus Juice takes off, to buy property!! [sic]"
Aside from the above, however, Rheins's statement makes absolutely no sense. He and Westlake spent the money and time to file a trademark for Jesus Juice, a label which ridicules both Jackson and Christianity, all because they didn't want someone else to make money? Far more likely of an outcome is that Rheins and Westlake tried to get a buyer for the trademark (which he registered while covering the Jackson trial) and were unsuccessful.
UPDATE 13:52. It's worth noting that Rheins's boss at the L.A. CBS bureau, Jennifer Siebens knew about her second-in-command's insider journalism business. Sources tell NewsBusters that Rheins gave his colleagues, including Siebens, bottles of his preliminary wine, a merlot.
Jesus Juice Producer Falsely Denies Prophet Motive
</sarcasm>
There you go. Suitable for framing.
Maybe they'd have better luck with Mohammed Mocha. Start a chain of coffee shops featuring minarets blaring hip, kewl music...?
Hey, I'm just trying to help...
You're going to Hell for that.
;^P
Obviously not, he's got an Indugence1 ;-P
stop...sayitaintso...another false profit in our midst?
This reminds me of the group a couple of friends were involved with -- "Juice for Jesus."
MSM is evil.
So? Isn't the motive of all business to make profit?
Is that a picture of Michael Jackson being crucified on that t-shirt?
Yes. See http://newsbusters.org/node/2684
Tacky, very tacky. At least they didn't advertise it as "fresh squeezed."
Seemed vey tasty, by the way, especially after the third glass. Of course you couldn't actually TASTE anything after the third glass. ;o)
Mohammed Mocha
^^
Bet they'd lose their shirts -- along with their heads -- in that venture.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
