Following on the radio interview she gave last week, Tiffany Michelle has issued a thorough rebuttal of Poker News’ accusations against her, hoping to clear her name and to put to rest all talk of betrayal and lack of ethics on her part.
As versions and statements come and go, there is an increasingly clear picture of the events surrounding Tiffany Michelle’s participation in this year’s WSOP Main Event and the ensuing sponsorship controversy: while Poker News and Tony G released allegations of breach of contract and trust, Michelle stands by her version that the deal was never exclusive. Below is an overview of Tiffany Michelle’s official statement released on WickedChopsPoker.com.
Michelle starts by explaining how it is standard industry practice for players to wear multiple logos, and how Poker News accepted this practice on several of their players: “Throughout the World Series I saw several players wear the Pokernews logo alongside the logos of online card rooms such as Pokerstars and T6. This makes it very clear that Pokernews supported this practice as a rule and were not against players wearing their logo in conjunction with the logo of an online card room.”
She goes on to emphatically declare that her contract was non-exclusive, a fact that was even mentioned in Tony G’s blog (more about this in a while,) and that her legal counsel confirmed that this was the case. She also points out the fact that Poker news had not acquired representation rights over her, not as a presenter and not as a sponsored player: “I have a written contract that has been reviewed by legal counsel – and it is very clearly a non-exclusive contract meaning that while I was expected to wear the Pokernews logo – I was in no way prevented from wearing any other logo. Furthermore Pokernews did not possess any power to make, advise or negotiate any kind of logo or sponsorship deal that came about via my playing the main event. (…) Even in my previous dealings with Pokernews, as their On-Camera Host I have made a point to never agree to any kind of exclusivity with their company as advised by my talent manager.”
Michelle mentioned on the radio interview that Ultimate Bet’s support and respect were overwhelming and a decisive factor in making her choose them as sponsors. In her latest statement she elaborates over this, casting an unflattering light over Poker News’ actions: “It was unfortunate that while I was working hard to try to win the main event (…) I was chastised by Pokernews representatives at all hours of the day and night for wearing a second logo. Despite my repeated requests that they go through my manager and let me just concentrate on playing, they insisted on contacting me directly, greatly upsetting me during the most important weekend of my life.”
Poker News and Tony G expressed their disappointment in Michelle’s actions, claiming they were interested in helping her negotiate a profitable sponsorship deal and that they resented her going behind their backs. She also has a response for this: “Just because Tony G. backed me in the event (…) does not mean that he should be able to control or profit from any logo or sponsorship deal I might make or have any say in how I handle my career. (…) It’s widely known that a backer has no say or cut of a player’s sponsorship or logo deal. Again, I had seen several Pokernews sponsored players wearing online card room logos already so clearly the backing deal and the logo deals were separate for every other player wearing Pokernews. Why would it be different just for me?”
Finally, Michelle expresses her frustration on the publicity given to an affair that would have been best handled privately: “It is unfortunate that Pokernews has taken the step of publicly accusing me of breaching their contract when I have been scrupulous in fulfilling my obligations. I have always felt that disputes like this should be handled privately and in this case using such a broad reaching platform to air such a dispute seems really inappropriate to me.”
Tiffany Michelle’s statement came out on the heels of an emotional post on Tony G’s blog, where he admits that Michelle’s contract was “not watertight” and that he will not take the matter to court due to jurisdictional issues: “Unfortunately we cannot enforce things easily via courts, especially with online poker since none of the online poker is based in the US (…) It just isn’t going to happen whether it’s in the Bahamas or Costa Rica.” Presumably this means the end of this controversy, but we will keep you informed of any further developments.
