piratebg
06-20-2006, 12:44 AM
Screech: Saved by the Shirt? By Gina Serpe
Mon Jun 19, 5:49 PM ET
A bell can't save Screech...but a T-shirt might.
Dustin Diamond, forever known to children of the '80s as Saved by the Bell's Samuel "Screech" Powers, has taken to hawking autographed T-shirts of himself in a bid to raise $250,000 and stop a bank from foreclosing on his Milwaukee-area home.
The TV nerd turned stand-up comic is selling shirts through his Website, www.getDshirts.com.
"First we rallied to Free Winona. The next time we Voted for Pedro. This time we'll Save Screeech's House!" Diamond writes on the site. (While the former TV star is apparently confident he'll raise enough to save his home, he clearly doesn't anticipate making enough to pay off a lawsuit, adding a third "e" to "Screeech" to avoid violating copyright laws.)
Last Tuesday, Diamond appeared on the Howard Stern Show to relay how his once-vast fortune had whittled away to nothing, putting him in his current near-homeless predicament. And no, Zack Morris had nothing to do with it.
Diamond claimed to have made nearly $2 million for 10-season run on the Saturday morning show, but told Stern that his parents took all but 25 percent of his earnings, leaving him with next to nothing as well as "sh--ty credit."
As a result, after moving to Wisconsin four years ago, he was forced to get a land contract rather than a typical loan to buy a house. He enlisted the help of Arthur Giraldo, a man vilified in Diamond's online rambling, whom the TV star claims now wants the house for himself.
According to Diamond, the land around his home has since been developed, increasing the property value and causing the state to demand the property back. He claims Giraldo, whom he hired to assist in saving his home, has failed to help him solidify ownership, mostly due to the alleged ulterior motives of wanting the property himself.
There has been no immediate comment from Giraldo.
The former Bayside High School fixture, meanwhile, says he has been given a month to pony up the $250,000 needed to keep his home. Hence, the T-shirt plan.
"I received a letter stating that I had 30 days to pay $250,000 or get out," he writes on his Website. "I was not thrilled."
Diamond is selling two types of "D-shirts" to aid in his house saving. One, selling for $15, features a photo of the actor in front of his home with the message "I paid $15 to save Screeech's house." He's also hawking an autographed version of the shirt for $20 with the extra special handwritten message to "F--- Giraldo."
It may be tough going for the destitute star, though. He admitted on the Stern show that he would need to sell 30,000 T-shirts to raise the requisite money.
Diamond also chronicled the news of his impending foreclosure online.
"That's right, yours truly gets served with a notice to foreclose. They're gonna take my house! I'm gonna be homeless! Dustin Diamond homeless in Wisconsin. BULLS--T!"
Diamond further writes out the message he left for Giraldo, the New York Capital Exchange broker he blames for his potential homelessness.
"Tell Arthur Giraldo...I am losing my house. If he doesn't call me back I'll go to Howard Stern and tell the world (New York especially) how he does business. Let's face it, if he can't find the time to work on a mortgage for a famous celebrity, how will he handle the average person?"
But the "famous celebrity" didn't stop there.
"One call later I was telling the Stern show what had happened. Time to pay the piper, Arthur. You shouldn't have f---ed with the Dman."
Mon Jun 19, 5:49 PM ET
A bell can't save Screech...but a T-shirt might.
Dustin Diamond, forever known to children of the '80s as Saved by the Bell's Samuel "Screech" Powers, has taken to hawking autographed T-shirts of himself in a bid to raise $250,000 and stop a bank from foreclosing on his Milwaukee-area home.
The TV nerd turned stand-up comic is selling shirts through his Website, www.getDshirts.com.
"First we rallied to Free Winona. The next time we Voted for Pedro. This time we'll Save Screeech's House!" Diamond writes on the site. (While the former TV star is apparently confident he'll raise enough to save his home, he clearly doesn't anticipate making enough to pay off a lawsuit, adding a third "e" to "Screeech" to avoid violating copyright laws.)
Last Tuesday, Diamond appeared on the Howard Stern Show to relay how his once-vast fortune had whittled away to nothing, putting him in his current near-homeless predicament. And no, Zack Morris had nothing to do with it.
Diamond claimed to have made nearly $2 million for 10-season run on the Saturday morning show, but told Stern that his parents took all but 25 percent of his earnings, leaving him with next to nothing as well as "sh--ty credit."
As a result, after moving to Wisconsin four years ago, he was forced to get a land contract rather than a typical loan to buy a house. He enlisted the help of Arthur Giraldo, a man vilified in Diamond's online rambling, whom the TV star claims now wants the house for himself.
According to Diamond, the land around his home has since been developed, increasing the property value and causing the state to demand the property back. He claims Giraldo, whom he hired to assist in saving his home, has failed to help him solidify ownership, mostly due to the alleged ulterior motives of wanting the property himself.
There has been no immediate comment from Giraldo.
The former Bayside High School fixture, meanwhile, says he has been given a month to pony up the $250,000 needed to keep his home. Hence, the T-shirt plan.
"I received a letter stating that I had 30 days to pay $250,000 or get out," he writes on his Website. "I was not thrilled."
Diamond is selling two types of "D-shirts" to aid in his house saving. One, selling for $15, features a photo of the actor in front of his home with the message "I paid $15 to save Screeech's house." He's also hawking an autographed version of the shirt for $20 with the extra special handwritten message to "F--- Giraldo."
It may be tough going for the destitute star, though. He admitted on the Stern show that he would need to sell 30,000 T-shirts to raise the requisite money.
Diamond also chronicled the news of his impending foreclosure online.
"That's right, yours truly gets served with a notice to foreclose. They're gonna take my house! I'm gonna be homeless! Dustin Diamond homeless in Wisconsin. BULLS--T!"
Diamond further writes out the message he left for Giraldo, the New York Capital Exchange broker he blames for his potential homelessness.
"Tell Arthur Giraldo...I am losing my house. If he doesn't call me back I'll go to Howard Stern and tell the world (New York especially) how he does business. Let's face it, if he can't find the time to work on a mortgage for a famous celebrity, how will he handle the average person?"
But the "famous celebrity" didn't stop there.
"One call later I was telling the Stern show what had happened. Time to pay the piper, Arthur. You shouldn't have f---ed with the Dman."