Blogocentric Formulations

Wesley Snipes

Not sure how many of you are familiar with Wesley Snipes' recent legal troubles, but the basic gist of it is that he cheated on his taxes and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence. Before all that, though, his former agency (United Talent Agency) sued him for unpaid commissions from his acting work (agents get 10% and apparently Wesley didn't pay them their 10% on a few of his acting jobs).

Recently, a video was unearthed of his deposition in connection with that UTA dispute, where Snipes compares talent representatives to pimps. Unfortunately for him, the savvy lawyer deposing him was quick on his toes and turned the analogy around on him. Here's the excerpt, for your reading enjoyment:

Snipes: I can translate [the way talent representation works] to the way I understand it. It's no different than a pimp. That's what a pimp does with a ho. A pimp will lay claim to whatever the ho produces anywhere on the planet for as long as she's a ho. And then, even after she retires from being a ho, they're still gonna make the claim. Now, whether they actually do anything or not to deserve it is a whole 'nother issue. That's kind of my experience with the talent agencies -- if they receive the phone call, if your name has been a part of their roster, if they receive a piece of mail, then as far as they're concerned, they are entitled to commission.

[Lawyer]: What does the pimp do when the ho doesn't pay?

Snipes: They usually beat them up.

You have to give that attorney credit for taking Snipes' analogy and turning it around on him. Well played, sir. Well played.