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Does Anyone Want to Hire Jon Gosselin?

Thu., Aug. 27, 2009 11:30 AM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

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Why was Jon Gosselin selling lemonade? Is he that desperate for sympathy—or cash?
—Shennellc, via the Answer B!tch inbox

Actually, Gosselin and his kids were selling lemonade for charity, at a local Pennsylvania fire department. Photogs and reporters caught him out there a few days ago while he was filming a new episode of his reality show.

The firefighters might be the only fans Gosselin has left, though, if what everybody is telling me is any indication...

During the lemonade extravaganza, Gosselin complained to reporters that he wished he could quit Jon & Kate, but that he can't because he has bills and, in case you haven't heard, eight kids.

If that sounds desperate, that's because it genuinely is.

Gosselin had a paid appearance lined up this week at the Shrine club at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods—on which he bailed—and he has one other in the offing, at a club called Wet Republic in Vegas, for which sources tell me he will be paid $15,000.

But beyond that, I could not find a single booker willing to deal with him. Including the very people who were seeking him out just days ago.

"We offered $5,000 for an unadvertised appearance," Randy Greenstein, partner at Shrine, tells me. "Jon is not really in demand because of his negative image. Who would want to advertise 'come hang with the world's biggest scumbag'?

"No, we would never book him again."

Other talent bookers tell me there's plenty of demand for soon-to-be-ex Kate Gosselin, but none for Jon.

"Kate is doing three upcoming events for me," talent wrangler Glenn Rosenblum of Celebrity Access tells me. "She is lovely and a hard worker."

As for Jon, he could garner an estimated $10,000 per appearance if anyone wanted him, but "especially with the economy, it would be hard to find a group that would want him right now."

Other talent bookers, including Huff Events in New York, Queenie Donaldson in Los Angeles, and Leverage 8 in Chicago, all tell me they see no current demand for Jon, only Kate.

And oh, just in case you're wondering whether clubs outside of Los Angeles, New York and Vegas would like to hire Gosselin, the answer is, not likely. At least not for money.

Shane Brennan of the San Diego nightclub Stingaree tells me, "Even with the big hype surrounding Jon Gosselin's pending divorce and personal drama, he's still not the caliber of celebrity we'd pay big bucks for. He doesn't appeal to our demo of young and hip partygoers. Although Stingaree would not pay an appearance fee, we would likely offer complementary bottle service to his party."

Sure, that might work. As long as there's lemonade.

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Check out Jon & Kate plus a whole bunch of nonsense in our Gosselin gallery.