The U.S. health department made a wish list of more than 30 celebrities
including Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and Billy Joel to appear in their
ad campaign to "inspire hope" about coronavirus, but they ended up with
only Dennis Quaid, CeCe Winans and Hasidic singer Shulem Lemmer. Host
Dan Diamond talks with Dispatch's Jeremy Siegel about HHS' latest PR
blunder. But first, yep, Dan did call Garth Brooks' home phone for this
story.
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- The ad blitz has sputtered for weeks behind the scenes, Dan scooped.
- It’s also raised red flags after funding was abruptly taken from CDC
and the business partner of HHS’ spokesperson was tapped to do the
videos.
- POLITICO's Daniel Lippman first put a spotlight on the campaign.
Dan Diamond is host of POLITICO Pulse Check and author of the POLITICO
Pulse newsletter.
Jeremy Siegel is a host for POLITICO Dispatch and produced this
episode.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO Audio.
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.
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