L. A. entrepreneurs allegedly seek to market wine with 'Jesus Juice' label.
Is it blasphemy, or is it art? Is it creativity coupled with ingenuity, or plain bad taste paired with greed?
Here are the facts: a Los Angeles couple was allegedly seeking to market a wine called 'Jesus Juice', whose label would depict a Michael Jackson-like figure as if on a cross. The 'Jesus Juice' Merlot is the brainchild of actress Dawn Westlake and husband Bruce Rheins, a veteran CBS Evening News producer, who headed the network's coverage of the Jackson child molestation case.
Westlake and Rheins filed to trademark the 'Jesus Juice' name in January 2004, two months after the entertainer was arrested and days after news outlets first reported that Jackson used the term 'Jesus Juice' when referring to wine that he allegedly gave minors.
On October 1, 2005 Westlake and Rheins provided USPTO officials – who are still reviewing the trademark application – with a copy of the proposed 'Jesus Juice' logo, which features a photo of a barely clad man with a sequined glove, shiny loafers, stringy hair, and a black fedora that obscures his face.
The story was first reported by NewsBusters on Sunday, November 6, and picked up by other media outlets, including the Associated Press, TheSmokingGun.com and MSNBC's 'Countdown. Rheins told CBS News that the whole effort "a very bad attempt at a spoof.”
Though Rheins said that he and his wife make their own wine and intended to produce a small number of 'Jesus Juice' bottles to give to friends, some of whom covered the Jackson trial alongside of Rheins. He said also that there was never the intention to profit in any way from the effort, however 'Jesus Juice' items were on sale in a CafePress.com virtual store operated by Westlake. The accoutrements have now been removed from the virtual store, but we archived a snapshot of the JJ wall clock and T-shirt pages, as well as a photograph of Rehins posing with a JJ mug and t-shirt.
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