Whatever Happened To David Copperfield?

If you will recall, back in October there was a huge amount of press when David Copperfield was accused of rape, and the FBI raided his Las Vegas warehouse. Since then, there has been nothing. Not even really a whisper of anything going on. The two cities most involved in the situation are Seattle and Las Vegas. The major Seattle newspaper has not followed up on the original story, and has not even mentioned David Copperfield since the October allegations surfaced. In Las Vegas, there was one article which was published in November about morality clauses in Vegas contracts. You can read the article here. The gist was that perhaps the MGM should have thrown out Copperfield on his ass, but didn't, and instead had him perform there for a six week run over the holidays where ticket sales were "brisk."

What that says to me is that people don't really care what Copperfield did or may have done or was accused of doing. People were shelling out hundreds of dollars a person to see him perform as if nothing had happened. Indeed, what has happened? Allegedly there is a federal grand jury investigating the claims. No doubt they all have spent a week or two or three traveling to the Bahamas to investigate further during the chilly winter months, but there has been no news, no leaks, and I don't think that is right. I understand grand jury testimony is secret, but I don't understand why the newspapers in the affected cities can't at least have one of their staff spend a day or two investigating where the matter stands now. That last sentence holds true even if David Copperfield did nothing wrong. The newspapers of the world had a field day or two slamming him, and so if they were wrong, everyone should know. If they were right, then don't you think people should know that also so that other women won't be afraid to come forward.

The only news account about David Copperfield since October came from the National Enquirer. It is a story that ran the first week of January. It recounted the story of a limo driver who said David Copperfield attempted to rape a woman in the back of a limo in 1996 while he was dating Claudia Schiffer. The limo driver has offered to testify at any trial.

Here is what he had to say. John St. John said incident took place in Ottawa, Canada in 1996, while Copperfield, 51, was engaged to Claudia Schiffer. St. John was ordered to pick up the woman - a Schiffer lookalike - and then drive around the city while Copperfield attempted to seduce her. He told the Enquirer, "I know when someone is having consensual sex in my limousine, but what was going on this time was different. They were struggling and I heard raised voices. I could hear the girl saying: 'No. Get off me' and 'Stop'.

"It was the first time as a driver that I didn't know what to do. I am a father of three daughters and I knew I would be kissing my career goodbye by dragging Copperfield out of the car - but I thought I had no other option. "Just then I heard David call me on the intercom saying: 'Take me back.'" Copperfield's representatives have described St.John's claims as "fiction"

David Copperfield has a big US tour this spring and summer. Are you buying tickets?