Charity Rebuffs Patti's Cash

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Jun 2, 2009 8:45PM

We weren't really going to report on the ongoing appearance of Patti Blagojevich on the NBC show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Outta Here." We've talked it about it way too much as it is, though any show in which Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt join Patti for a prayer has got to be off the charts in unintentional comedy, right? Well, it gets better. Each "celebrity" is competing on behalf of a charity. But the folks at Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation don't want anything to do with Patti's charity cash because they're partners with Children's Memorial Hospital, the same hospital Rod allegedly tried to shake down for $50,000. The Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki has the charity's full statement:

Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation was recently approached by the producers of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" to be the official charity for former Illinois First Lady Patti Blagojevich. We were flattered to be considered for a high profile opportunity to raise money and awareness for Bear Necessities. However, we declined the opportunity because her husband, former Gov. Blagojevich, faces federal charges which include an alleged extortion of our partner, Children's Memorial Hospital. We wish the show and Mrs. Blagojevich the best of luck and appreciate the offer. However, our long time partnership with Children's has made great strides in fulfilling Bear's mission of curing the scourge of pediatric cancer and we would never want to do anything to harm that relationship.

The Trib reports that, according to NBC, Patti is now competing on behalf of Florida-based Children's Cancer Center.