No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:  November 1, 2006 Truth Alert from BarbraStreisand.com

Below is a copy of BarbraStreisand.com's November 1, 2006 Truth Alert regarding a drink-throwing incident which occurred at Streisand's October 30th concert during her comedy routine with Steve Bridges.  Introducing the Alert is Streisand's publicist Dick Guttman who wanted to bring it to The BSMG's attention. 

You may have picked this up already from the new Truth Alert on Barbra's website.  If not, I know it will interest you.  An important aspect of this story is that in an election season that has had so much name-calling and so many ads which distorted the truth, someone (Barbra) actually cared that the truth be told.. even though it erases the impression that the original Associate Press story had inferred someone politically opposed to her committed a rude act or throwing a drink (actually, a paper cup with some liquid in it) on the stage.  Barbra's desire to set this matter straight is one step towards civility in politics.  And, as the proverb says, the longest journey begins with but a single step. -- Dick Guttman

(By the way, Barbra has set house records in every venue she has played so far.  In the Madison Square Garden appearances, she was exceeded only by her own two concerts there in 2000.)

Here's the new story:

In view of press speculation that there was a political aspect to an incident at one of the recent Ft. Lauderdale performances of the current Barbra Streisand national tour, the star wishes it known that she discovered later that the outburst was in no way political.   The man who threw a paper cup with liquid in it onto the stage was actually the guest of someone to whom Streisand had given tickets, a guest who had had one or more too many beers but no political convictions.

After a recent stay on a friend's boat near Miami, Ms. Streisand had given each of the crew members tickets (these happened to be front row) for the sold-out concert.  When one seaman became ill, an Australian friend was invited, a rowdy friend as it turned out.

There have been three occasions during the tour, which has now completed 12 or its twenty concerts, in which a heckler protested a skit in which the George W. Bush impersonator Steve Bridges interacts with Streisand.  The management of the tour points out that Bridges is a Republican and has performed his impersonation with President Bush at the White House Correspondents Ball and for him on several occasions including one at the White House, and that Bridges' writers had created the skit used in the concerts.  Martin Erlichman, Ms. Streisand's manager and a producer of the tour, noted that if Bridges feels the material is in good fun and conforms with the President's self-deprecating sense of humor, that was good enough for Ms. Streisand. 

Three of the nearly 180.000 people who have seen the concerts so far have chosen to make vocal protest of the skit during its performance, but singer feels it should be made clear that the person who threw the drink had no political motive or message.