Over at Geek Central, the fun never stops. We've been trolling the rolls at the California Secretary of State's website to see who's coughed up big bucks for No on 8, the effort to stop voters in the Golden State from overturning this year's historic court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
Since we last updated you:
> T.R. Knight gave another $50,000, bringing his combined total to $100,000 Brad Pitt levels of awesome.
> Suze Orman (#24 on Out's 2008 Power 50 list) gave $10,000.
> Jon Stryker (#39 on Out's 2008 Power 50 list) gave another $200,000, bringing his total to more than half a mil. And he doesn't even live in California.
> Perez Hilton even ponied up $1,000.
But our favorite has to be the donation shown above, $2,500 from one "Neil Harris" of West Hollywood, California, who identifies his occupation as "self-employed prestidigitator." What is a prestidigitator, you might ask? Why, it is someone who engages in a sleight-of-hand, often by juggling or utilizing other magic. A jester, one might say, amusing the court with a look-over-here-no-over-here wink and a smile.
There may, in fact, be a professional magician named Neil Harris in West Hollywood (though we can't find one, and not just because we had to stop and re-watch all the Arrested Development episodes where G.O.B. gets kicked out of his Magician's Alliance). But my fervent hope for this political shocker is that it is in fact none other than Neil Patrick Harris, who in our November cover story told us:
"I'm a magician at heart, so smoke and mirrors is great. The idea of smoke and mirrors tends to suggest suppression and the idea that you don't want people to know about who you really are, but as an actor you kind of do want people to not know who you really are. I think it was nice to have a bit of a smoke screen in a way."
We don't want to get banned from the Alliance for life, but we would love to know if our guess is correct. Stay tuned for more wacky adventures in campaign finance... And for the serious straight-up scary news about how much money people are giving to Yes on 8 (boo, hiss), follow the Advocate's excellent coverage here (rich conservative moneybags) and here (Mormons raise $8.4 million).
Previously > TR gives $50k > Just say no > NPH & Elmo
Judith Light gave!! But only $1k. Those "Who's The Boss" syndication checks must be dwindling.....
Posted by: raymondj | October 13, 2008 at 01:43 PM
NPH is a known amateur magician, he's a member of the magic castle in hollywood so this could definitely be him
Posted by: Edd | October 13, 2008 at 02:47 PM