Sarah Palin's Swaggate, the Sequel

Alaska’s former governor continues her controversial freebie spree in Hollywood

By Whitney English, Ted Casablanca Mar 06, 2010 2:01 PMTags
Sarah Palin, George ClooneyAP Photo/ J. Scott Applewhite; INFPhoto.com

Being the butt of a joke should be nothing new for Sarah Palin—except this time, it's not for her politics.

Following news that S.P. had a bad case of the gimmes at the Silver Spoon Oscar Suite in Hollywood earlier this week, known jokester George Clooney savored the opportunity to take a shot at the questionably witted soccer mom. At the Publicists Guild Awards luncheon in L.A. this afternoon, George schlepped about 10 overflowing gift bags onstage while presenting his longtime flack Stan Rosenfeld with the Les Mason Award. Once at the mic, Clooney kindly apologized for his baggage, claiming he'd run into the former Alaskan governor in the gifting lounge.

Sarah may need a drink after that jab. Well, she's in luck!

Turns out Palin wasn't just interested in clothes and beauty products during her swag spree, but also asked that a box of Bota Box Wine be sent to her home in Alaska.

A source at the suite tells us Palin did not sample the wine there, but a member of her entourage did try the Pinot. When asked if she would like to take a box for later, our suite source says Palin asked them to ship it to her home because she couldn't take the liquid on the plane.

And Palin didn't stop with wine—how could she when there were far more freebies for her to snatch up? Palin and her daughters Willow and Piper also picked up some personalized stationery from the Card Store.

Lorna Khoo, spokesperson for the Card Store, tells us they came by her stand and sat down with the brand reps to design their own cards. Palin chose the Avocado Fleur Note with "Sarah" written on the front.

"I know there was some negative feedback about the Palin's taking advantage of the event, but they were totally gracious and kind," says  Khoo.

"Sarah was decisive about making her card choice. She even spelled out her name for me as if I didn't know there was an H at the end," Khoo explains. "Lots of celebrities gave P.O. boxes or their publicist's office address, but the Palins gave their home address."

Makes total sense—she'd hate for all her free stuff to get lost in the mail.

Silver Spoon released a statement claiming Palin would be donating all the free swag she nabbed, but with her name plastered across the front of the stationary, it may be a little hard to donate to charity!

We've repeatedly requested a comment on all the freebies she received, but a rep for Palin declined. Palin's rep also refused to confirm, deny or provide proof that Palin donated more than $1,700 to the Red Cross in connection to her suite appearance.

All Palin's rep would say is: "We strongly stand by and support the host's [Silver Spoon] request for a retraction and apology from E! and will not comment further until that happens."

Of course! We'll apologize about the same time Palin takes a break from sipping her gratis wine and writing avocado-green thank-you notes to the vendors who gifted her so luxuriously!

This woman doesn't still plan to run for political office again—does she?

—Additional reporting by John Boone