Paula Abdul’s Efforts to Play Hardball Thwarted As Her Asking Price Drops 40 Percent in One Week
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When Paula Abdul's manager David Sonenberg went public last week with threats that the erratic judge was ready to wobble walk away from American Idol if her salary wasn't bumped up to $20 million per year, we quickly recognized this tactic as coming from the first few chapters of the Hardball 101 playbook. What we didn't realize was how quickly the Abdul camp would sound the alarm and begin retreating from the beach head they had shoddily established. According to a report in today's Los Angeles Times, Abdul has chopped her asking price down to a still-astronomical-but-far-more-reasonable $12 million per year. However, there isn't any indication in reporter Joe Flint's piece that Fox is willing to dole out this kind of jack to the former MC Skat Cat paramour, and with good reason: Considering Abdul's ask came down $8 million in less than seven days, why not make the diminutive diva sweat it out for a few more days? Heck, by this time next week, she might even be willing to take a pay cut to stay on the show.
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