News

Shatner Sells Self for Charity

Emmy-winning Boston Legal actor William Shatner has sold a kidney stone to GoldenPalace.com, an online casino company with a growing collection of celebrity cast-offs and curiosities from around the world. Shatner balked at the initial offer of $15,000, citing collectibles from the Star Trek era that had fetched six figures, and the buyers agreed to a $25,000 counteroffer. The money from the sale will be redirected from Shatner to Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit organization that has built over 200,000 homes for the needy since its founding in 1976.

"If you subjected it to extreme heat, it might turn out to be a diamond," Shatner said. The actor also said that he had retained visitation rights for the stone, which was so nicely sized that "you'd want to wear it on your finger."

Inevitably, other participants could not resist a little wordplay when asked to comment. "This would be the first Habitat for Humanity house built out of stone," cracked Darren Julien, whose company, Julien's Auctions, handled the transaction.

"We are confident that this will be our most enterprising advertising campaign to date with Captain Kirk on board," said Richard Rowe, CEO of GoldenPalace.com. The kidney stone will join the casino's traveling fleet of oddities, which has included Pete Rose's allegedly corked baseball bat, a grilled cheese sandwich bearing the likeness of the Virgin Mary, and a bloodstained bandage used to treat Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the 1973 October War.

-- The ARTISTdirect Staff
01.19.06