
(for the entire series of articles on Ellen, Iggy, and this whole situation, click here.)
One woman at the center of the Ellen DeGeneres dog controversy is finally speaking out. A bit of backstory…Marina Baktis and Vanessa Chekroun own Mutts and Moms, a dog rescue agency, where Ellen adopted little Iggy. After discovering that, even after training, Iggy just didn’t get along with her cats and was a bit too high-energy for her household, Ellen tried to give Iggy a good home by giving the dog to her hairdresser’s family. It hit the fan then, because she wasn’t supposed to do that as per the contract that was signed when she adopted the dog, and MaM eventually had the police come and take the dog away.
Apparently the owners are none too happy at all the attention this has received, even though they were the ones who initially threatened Ellen with going to the media:
“People are being so cruel to us. People are sending things that say ‘Nazi’ and words that I can’t repeat. You know so we can’t even review [adoption] applications because at this point we think [the threat givers] are just gonna come and try to hurt our animals.”
[Marina] Baktis told Access that she’s worried for her safety and that her own dogs are being threatened.
“I haven’t eaten, I’m sick, and I’ve had heart palpitations,” she said.
She also claims that she’s losing business at her store, Paws Boutique, and that she’s had to remove Mutts and Moms Web site from the Internet.
“Now we can’t go to work because there is all this media… And so we’re losing business… Our reputation, they ruined our reputation,” Baktis continued.
I’d have to say you ruined your own reputation with your callousness and high-handedness, but I won’t say that.
Furthermore, they say that at this point there is absolutely no way that the family is going to get Iggy back:
Baktis has now said that she would never give back Iggy to the family that DeGeneres handed him off to.
“No, that is not a consideration at this point, no,” Baktis told Access. “Not after the way we’ve been treated, no. We have been terrorized, it has been horrible.”
Attorney Keith A. Fink, who doesn’t legally represent Baktis and Chekroun (but is authorized to speak on their behalf), confirmed to The Associated Press that the women will not give back Iggy.
“She doesn’t think this is the type of family that should have the dog,” Fink told the AP. “She is adamant that she is not going to be bullied around by the Ellen DeGenereses of the world … They are using their power, position and wealth to try to get what it is they want.”
Baktis claims that DeGeneres’ celebrity is the sole reason why she’s getting all of this attention.
“Celebrities you know, they, they get preferential treatment. They have lots of money. They go into a restaurant they get a table. And so you know, this contract was breached. It was breached. So people need to understand when you enter a binding legal agreement that you can’t just go, ‘And here you go, I don’t want you.‘”
Marina adds though, that she has no plans to sue Ellen.
That’s nice to know. At least she isn’t going to sue. That should make Ellen and this poor family sleep better tonight. Marina even says in the interview here that if the adoption doesn’t work out and an adopter has a friend who is interested in their dog, the friend can then go through their process to adopt the dog. Um, HELLO?
You know, I was hoping that these women would turn out to be people who realized that they made a mistake, jumped the gun, acted hastily, and would allow this family to go through the steps and return poor little Iggy to them. It would appear now that they are too obsessively concerned with their own feelings in the matter to even consider that they made a huge mistake. Zero tolerance has no place in things like this. And if you’re so worried about your own precious feelings and the way you were treated, instead of being concerned with the happiness of a homeless dog, maybe you shouldn’t be in a business that rescues pets in the first place.
What about Iggy? What about the feelings of this poor little dog? Iggy bonds to this family, loves them, and then is torn away from them. Already a stray, an unwanted dog, now Iggy has been neglected yet again by the very people who are supposed to have a dog’s best interests at heart. Who will do business with these people now? I’d constantly be afraid they would call the Secret Police and come get my family member (and let’s face it…as pet owners, you know they become part of your family). Plus, this business about no family with children under fourteen can adopt. WHAT??? Two, three years old, that I can understand. But if you already have an application to fill out, you can weed out the crazies that way. FOURTEEN? Whatever…I was practically raising myself at fourteen years old AND I’d had a dog for two years at that point.
She makes a huge point in the interview of saying she feels like Ellen’s celebrity is being thrown around, that celebrities get preferential treatment and they throw their weight and money around and that she is just this little maligned pet store owner. Hmm…it sounds like someone has made a reservation at Bitter, table for one. And if she’s so worried about making ends meet, why did she do this in the first place? Ellen could have been the best publicity her little pet rescue had ever received. Had she worked with this family, Ellen could have used her influence and celebrity in a way that would have BENEFITED this rescue. I am not saying Ellen has purposefully tried to harm this woman’s business, certain rabid fans took that upon themselves. But this could have been handled completely differently with a happy outcome for everyone.
You know what, Marina and Vanessa? This was NEVER about you. YOU made it about you, but it was never supposed to be about YOU. This is about a dog and its family, and because of your obsessive behavior and questionable tactics, you created the very situation you are lamenting now. If you didn’t want publicity, then why did you threaten to go to the media in the first place? All of this could have been avoided had you just allowed this family to go through the adoption steps like anyone else LIKE YOU ADMITTED IN THE INTERVIEW PEOPLE COULD DO.
Ellen didn’t follow the rules exactly. This is true, and she should have. But now everyone has to suffer? And now you’re complaining that you can’t do business because of this? Sorry, you brought this on yourself. No, I don’t agree with people making death threats and arson threats, that’s just low and wrong. I am in no way advocating violence against anyone. But perhaps you should have stopped and thought before you acted like this was a matter of national emergency in swooping in and taking this dog away. This has nothing to do with Ellen being a celebrity and everything to do with you were pissed because your precious little rules weren’t followed to the letter. Now you’re getting all high and mighty and saying you’ll never return the dog. Well, I am sure that will make you feel so much better. Made your point now?
As a pet mom myself, I am completely outraged.
In the clip of the interview done by Access Hollywood, notice how she had to first go inside her yard and get a dog before she’d come out and do the interview. It makes for a better media op, you know, to be holding a dog. And not just any dog, but a dog with one eye. Instant credibility!
UPDATE: According to Page Six, Ellen’s lawyer, Kelly Bush, contacted Mutts and Moms and left this message:
“This is Kelly Bush. We are filing a legal case against you. We are going to be contacting the media. This is not going to be good for your store or your organization. You did not do the right thing. You need to call back. There is no reason for you to take this dog. Please call back before this gets further out of hand.”
Hey, MaM threatened to go to the media first, so I don’t see why they’re all upset now. Lawer for MaM, Keith Fink, had this to say:
“Ellen’s lying,” said Fink. “She is using her power and her access to the media to destroy this agency in the media. This is a woman who has signed many seven-figure contracts. She knows what she signed.” [get your facts straight, lawyer, it was Portia who signed the contract, although Ellen’s name was on it] […]
Bush denied making threats. “I have not left any threatening messages at all,” she said. “The agency threatened to go to the media and I said that wouldn’t be a good idea. I told them there’s just no need to escalate this . . . They started this by wanting to take it public. I was the one who said, ‘Let’s talk about this.’ “
That’s not a threat, it’s the truth. It hasn’t been good for her store or her agency.