Entertainer sues Tropicana, NAACP over hall of fame

Grace Leong

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2000 | 10:35 a.m.

A Las Vegas entertainer claiming to have pioneered the concept of a Las Vegas entertainers Hall of Fame sued the Tropicana hotel-casino, five officers, an entertainment law attorney and the NAACP, alleging they conspired to steal his plans and ideas or failed to represent his interests.

Jon Astor-White filed a lawsuit in Clark County District Court against several Tropicana officers, alleging they cancelled without good reason an agreement in June 1998 to provide showroom space for a 1998 Labor Day weekend music festival and awards show honoring Las Vegas entertainers, which was to have culminated in induction ceremonies for Astor-White's Hall of Fame.

The defendants include Jonathan Swain, Tropicana's former president; Todd Moyer, former vice president of marketing; Ginny Murphy, entertainment director; Larry DuBoef and Michael Fowler, two executives.

Astor-White, who identified himself as a television producer and founder of the Las Vegas Entertainment Network, a 24-hour cable/satellite entertainment and sports network, said the events were supposed to have been televised as kick-off programming to launch his fledgling network.

Under the agreement, Tropicana was to have provided its Pavilion room at no cost to Astor-White on condition that he cover "all costs of staging and televising the music festival and induction ceremonies, in-house manpower for sound, lighting and camera operations," the suit said.

But the Tropicana, after eliciting from Astor-White a complete proposal and press release detailing the upcoming events and listing all of the initial inductees into the Hall of Fame, cancelled the agreement in July 1998 allegedly claiming Tropicana's air conditioning system wasn't capable of handling the televised events, the suit said.

The suit said the Tropicana "utterly destroyed the marketability" of Astor-White's concept when it announced on Jan. 28, 1999, the grand opening of its own Hall of Fame and an Inaugural Induction gala event that was to be held on Feb. 4, 1999. The suit said seven of the 11 entertainers inducted into Tropicana's Hall of Fame are allegedly from Astor-White's list of inductees.

The Tropicana's Casino Legends Hall of Fame museum, which opened Feb. 4, 1999, honors individuals who have made significant impact in the gaming industry as well as big-name entertainers with Las Vegas ties. The exhibit, leased by the hotel-casino from longtime Las Vegan Steve Cutler, features photos, films, videos, costumes, casino chips and other gaming memorabilia.

Astor-White said the cancellation of his project came after he obtained a charitable solicitation license to donate $2 from the sale of every ticket to the music festival -- which he estimates is a potential $24,000 donation -- to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. The suit said the network also made reservations for 100 rooms to accommodate the event's performers and inductees.

Ed Mulholland, Tropicana's attorney, declined comment on the lawsuit.

Astor-White, who is black, said he filed a complaint in 1999 claiming he was discriminated against by the defendants with Eugene Collins -- then the newly elected president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Collins in response allegedly sent a letter to the management of Tropicana and its parent company Aztar Corp. of Phoenix, the suit said.

The suit said the defendants, after receiving the NAACP's letter, allegedly contacted Clark County District Judge Lee A. Gates saying they wanted to settle the claim without negative publicity from the NAACP.

Astor-White said he then retained Mark Tratos in June 1999 as his attorney to negotiate a settlement. Tratos had outlined an agreement where Astor-White would produce a television event at the Tropicana, which was to pay $490,000 of the event's budget, the lawsuit said.

But Astor-White later accused Tratos of failing to keep him appraised of changes in negotiations despite his repeated requests. Tratos later withdrew his representation of the plaintiffs in February 2000.

Tratos, who was sued along with the Tropicana and the NAACP by Astor-White, declined comment.

Astor-White also accused Collins of breaching a conflict of interest policy when one of the NAACP's directors negotiated with the Tropicana to host the NAACP's annual Freedom Fund Dinner there on Dec. 11, 1999. The suit alleged Collins "personally profited" by agreeing to hold the dinner event at the resort-casino.

Collins denied the allegations.