'Diva' contracts: Sarah Palin vs. Mariah Carey

A media uproar has ensued after California State University students found a copy of Sarah Palin's speaking contract — listing her numerous beverage, housing, and transportation demands — in a trash can. The State of California has launched an investigation to determine why such a confidential document was not shredded. (Watch a report about the confidential document.) But one might ask: Why all the fuss? Compared to the tour-rider demands that real celebrity divas have made over the years, Palin's requests are really quite modest:

Sarah Palin: Demands that her lectern be stocked with two unopened bottles of still water and two bendy straws.

Mariah Carey: One-upped Palin by demanding a box of bendy straws and a tea service for eight (brewed with Poland Spring water only), plus myriad other treats including a "selection of sugarless gum."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Sarah Palin: Stipulates that any questions directed at her by audience members be pre-screened.

Barbra Streisand: Stipulated that anyone who enters the building pass through metal detectors, while a 24-hour platoon of security guards and police sniffer dogs conduct a "thorough inspection."

Sarah Palin: Demands a "tall, wooden lectern with a lip and fixed microphone."

Paula Abdul: Demanded that she and her crew be provided with 72 "large bath-sized" towels.

Sarah Palin: Specifies that three hotel rooms (a one-bedroom suite and two single rooms) must be reserved for herself and her entourage in a "deluxe hotel."

Jennifer Lopez: Specified that a 45-foot trailer dressing room be drained of all color: "White room, white flowers, white tables and/or tablecloths, white drapes, white candles, white couches." (Reportedly, she had to make do with a "greenish" couch.)

Sarah Palin: Requires that her hotel suite be equipped with a laptop computer and printer.

The Rolling Stones: Required that their accomodations include a full-size snooker table with a complete set of cues (the Stones agreed to "provide their own snooker balls"), five videogame arcades, and a ping-pong table.

Sarah Palin: Insists on two first-class seats when flying from Alaska to the lower 48; in the event a private jet is made available to her, it must be a "Lear 60 or larger."

Metallica: Each member of the band insisted on riding in his own 45-foot bus, while a convoy of 14 trucks (each 48-feet-long) followed the bus brigade. Despite this less-the-compact transportation, the tour-rider notes: "We do not want to park miles away from the venue, please."

Sarah Palin: Must be transported on the ground in an SUV or black town car.

Jay-Z: Asked to be transported on the ground in a "late model Black Mayback 57 or 62 with tinted windows."

Source: All tour-rider details courtesy of the Smoking Gun's document archive