Pepe Billete Takes on Cristina Saralegui Over Hypocrisy

Until February 5, Pepe Billete — the nation’s best-known profane Cuban-American puppet — was the top gun on Cristina Radio, a satellite station that launched on Sirius XM in 2011.

Then he got a pink slip.

Pepe Billete Uncensored was a funnier-than-hell conglomeration of “political satire, sports, and pop culture… where the world’s leaders and celebrities come to tell you how they really feel about what’s going on,” according to the station’s website. The puppet hosted guests such as U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and interviewed them using Cuban swear words for every body part you can imagine. Always amusing. Always with a point.

Why the show was canceled is a mystery, at least to Pepe. “It was the highest-rated show on the channel,” he says. “I was the one bringing in revenue because my shows had commercials. Then something happened.”

That something, Pepe says, was demands from a representative of Cristina Saralegui’s — the former TV host once billed as the Cuban Oprah whose talk show was canceled by Univision in 2010, picked up by Telemundo, and dropped again a year later.

“They said I was tarnishing Cristina’s brand,” he contends. “She is mortified because I say ‘pussy’ a lot and talk a lot of shit.”

(A tweet to Saralegui received no response, and a phone number listed for her company is disconnected. A call to an attorney who has represented her company in the past, Robert Adams, was not returned.)

Nelson Albareda, president of National Latino Broadcasting, which works with Saralegui on the channel and manages a music station on Sirius called En Vivo, says the puppet is wrong. “We have been talking for six months about hitting refresh,” he says. “It has been tough to monetize the talk format, so we made a decision that we would start the entire thing over.” He contends that no representatives of Saralegui’s ever complained about Pepe, adding that he speaks with her reps “every other week.”

Pepe Billete Uncensored was nixed, along with all the other shows, for now, he says. The channel will return soon.

That reason is not enough for Pepe, who penned the following response to the woman he calls “both perverse and a hypocrite.” — Chuck Strouse

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Dear Cristina:

Last Friday, I received a call from management at your Sirius XM channel informing me that my show was being taken off the air. Naturally, this came as a surprise given the fact that Pepe Billete Uncensored has been the top-performing show on your channel the majority of the 13 months you were airing it and among the most popular Spanish-language talk shows across the entire Sirius XM network. It was so popular, in fact, that you played reruns throughout the day, giving me more airtime than you even gave yourself on your own channel. An odd move to some, but with the amount of sponsorship money the show was bringing to the channel, who could blame you?

Then, despite the fact that the show was turning a profit month after month, despite the fact that you didn’t have the channel invest a dime into the show while checks from sponsorships it generated came pouring in, despite the fact it was the most-listened-to show on your channel, I have to hear from my superiors that I’m being taken off the air because, allegedly, you think I’m too vulgar. ¡Yo me aguante la lengua, pero ahora si que me empingaste de verdad!

Oye, Cristina, la verdad que estás de pinga. ¿Desde cuando tu eres tan fina, chica? And moreover, when did you become a pillar of ethical journalism? I know you love to hear your fans refer to you as the Latina Oprah, but the truth is that you’re actually more like Jerry Springer con un bollo than you are Oprah focking Winfrey.

Remember in 2002 when the Sun Sentinel said, “Unlike Oprah, though, who abandoned the freak road show years ago to host a more spiritually oriented program, Cristina has made a downward turn and is now focusing on the vulgar and the grotesque”?

I may use profane language for the sake of humor, but you’re the one who hosted a TV show that routinely instigated confrontation between your guests until they physically attacked each other — and then had the audacity to try to pass it off as respectable journalism. Like the time your show made international news because one of your guests threw dirty syringes into the audience.

The depths of your vulgarity know no end, pero tu eres la que tira la piedra y esconde la mano. I hate to be the one to break it to you, chica, but you ain’t fooling anyone with your bullshit façade of morality.

You are a flip-flopping hypocrite. You made an entire career out of being raunchy and obscene, and you would proudly defend it. Like the time you were on 20/20 and told Deborah Roberts: “What we have now is comedy, we have raunchiness, we have slapstick. We have strippers. We have funny stuff for the 10 o’clock adult.”

Interesting que ahora que tienes las nalgas arrugadas, te estás tirando el peo mas alto que el culo. Tu serás rubia, but as a wise man once said, “Just because you bleach your asshole doesn’t mean your shit don’t stink.” At best, you’re nothing more than a petty fraud whose fickle ethical standards sway according to your personal involvement. At worst, you’re a sadistic pimp who made her career taking advantage of people’s misfortune and publicly extorting misery for every rating point you could bleed out of it. Tu lo que eres es una sin verguenza que hizo su carrera adelantándose de la gente.

I talk about bollo peludo, patas sucias y sapingeria, but I don’t pretend to be anything more than what I am: un chusma. You, on the other hand, sold your dignity and integrity for ratings like a cheap whore but tried to pass yourself off as a role model for young Hispanic women. You hosted shows in Playmates’ lingerie con la papaya bien maracadita and even once in the nude with nothing but a barrel to cover your saggy teats. You weren’t a journalist or even respectable by any definition of the word; you were a ringmaster at a circus of humiliation and depravity.

Pero pa’ la pinga, if I were in your position, I would have gotten rid of my show too. Having your circle of friends comment on its content certainly wasn’t making it easier for you to accept the delusion that your newly acquired sense of dignity offers you a golden parachute, saving you from being remembered as a smut-peddling opportunist. At the end of the day, I am a satirist, and my job is to make fun of the ridiculous, so in retrospect, I guess I should be thanking you for making my job easier.

Keep up the good work.

Love,

P$

P.S.: You still owe me $2,500, you cheap bitch.

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Real Housewives of Melbourne stars strip down to their lingerie for racy new shoot ahead of show’s season three debut

Their secrets and scandals will be revealed on air when the new series of Real Housewives Of Melbourne debuts on February 21.

And ahead of the show third series,  glamourous cast members decided to strip down and pose in their lingerie for a racy new shoot.

Gina Liano, Chyka Keebaugh, Gamble Breaux, Jackie Gillies, Janet Roach, Lydia Schiavello, Pettifleur Berenger and newest cast member Susie McLean all flaunted their fabulous figures in the shoot for NW magazine on Tuesday.

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No dirty laundry here! Ahead of the Real Housewives Of Melbourne’s third series debut, it’s glamourous cast members decided to strip down and pose in their lingerie for a racy new shoot

And even Janet, who at 55-years-old is the oldest of the housewives, wowed in a sexy ensemble.

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Flashing the most flesh is Pettifleur who is wearing a black sheer top and skimpy pants as she showcases her assets.

Her long, slender legs are on full display, as is her toned stomach as she poses up a storm in front of the camera.

True to form, the group look to be indulging in expensive champagne, as well as snacking on popcorn as they lounge around in their racy ensembles in the lavish bedroom suite.

Holding pillows up as they cuddle up to one another, the woman, who are dolled up to the nines, appear to be replicating a playful scene from a typical girlie sleepover.

Flawless! Gina Liano, Chyka Keebaugh, Gamble Breaux, Jackie Gillies, Janet Roach, Lydia Schiavello, Pettifleur Berenger and newest cast member Susie McLean all flaunted their fabulous figures in the shoot

Melbourne’s series three of the franchise looks to promise an even bigger dose of socialising, scandals, shocks and squabbles.

In a sneak peek, the eight affluent ladies of the show appear to become embroiled in a number of raging cat fights, most notably Gina who is seen in a very heated argument with Pettifleur. 

After flashes of the group voyaging on a desert safari which includes Gina pictured perched on top a camel, in the next scene Pettifleur is shown banging her hands down on the dinner table as she yells at Gina with rage to ‘calm the f*** down!’

Not one to stand down in an argument, Gina fires back at her counterpart shouting: ‘Stay the f*** out of it!’

Fellow housewife Gamble Breaux then imitates stabbing someone with a knife during her piece to camera, in lieu of the fight.

Catty! In a sneak peek for Melbourne’s third series of the Real Housewives Of Melbourne,Gina Liano is seen embroiled in a very heated argument with Pettifleur Berenger

‘Calm the f*** down!’ Pettifleur is shown banging her hands down on the dinner table as she yells at Gina with rage

‘Stay the f*** out of it!’ Not one to stand down in an argument, Gina fires back verbal abuse at her counterpart

Meanwhile, another argument in the trailer shows Pettifleur insulting an unidentified housewife, with the stab: ‘Just listen to me sugardaddy.com!’

As dramatic classical music plays, words flash across the screen such as ‘new housewife,’ ‘old flames,’ ‘wedding bells,’ and ‘a baby?’

The ‘new housewife’ is in reference to country girl turned Toorak housewife Susie, and it appears as if it doesn’t take long for Susie to settle in, with the trailer showing her already embroiled in an argument with Lydia, as she admits that she has a ‘problem’ with her.

Cut-throat! Fellow housewife Gamble Breaux then imitates stabbing someone with a knife during her piece to camera, in lieu of the fight

The clue of a plot involving ‘old flames’ flashes to Janet telling a male, presumed to be a former love interest: ‘No i know where you are going, don’t!’ as she puts her arm out to say ‘no.’

The teaser also includes snips from Gamble and partner Dr. Rick Wolfe’s wedding in Byron Bay, which appears to have been officiated by Gina.

However it appears the wedding doesn’t go to plan as the ten-tier cake is shown toppling over, followed by an outburst of tears from Gamble, who is later shown storming off from the group.

‘Just listen to me sugardaddy.com!’ The trailer shows Pettifleur insulting an unidentified housewife

‘New housewife’: Susie McLean who will join seasoned cast members for the new series and it appears as if it doesn’t take long for Susie to settle in as she becomes embroiled in an argument with Lydia

The trailer also teases of a shock pregnancy, as Lydia yells out: ‘Now I never expected that!’ 

This isn’t the first time that a pregnancy storyline has come up in the reality TV franchise.

In 2011, The Real Housewives of New York star Ramona Singer had a pregnancy scare when she was 54-years-old.  

The teaser also includes snips from Gamble and partner Dr. Rick Wolfe’s wedding in Byron Bay

Lavish: Gamble’s choice of wedding frock is shown, as she dons a figure hugging garment for the special occassion

Special moment: The wedding appears to have been officiated by Gina

It appears as if a fair amount of travel is on the cards for the ladies in the latest series, as they are shown voyaging across a desert safari in the back of a four-wheel drive and riding on camels, as well as sliding down a water slide in an inflatable tube at a theme park.

A series of surprised and terrified looks from the women are flashed across the screen in quick succession hinting at a very salacious series.

The trailer finishes with Housewives dolled up to the nines in elegant blue gowns as they strut their way through a ballroom while gold confetti rains down on them.

The ostentatious stars will return to TV screens when season three of The Real Housewives of Melbourne premieres on Arena on February 21.

‘Now I never expected that!’ The trailer also teases of a shock pregnancy

‘No I know where you are going, don’t!’ The clue of a plot involving ‘old flames’ flashes to Janet speaking to a male, presumed to be a former love interest

Arriving in style! It appears as if a fair amount of travel is on the cards for the ladies in the latest series

The first two seasons of The Real Housewives of Melbourne were nothing short of explosive, but it looks like the upcoming third installment of the hit reality series is going to be the most scandalous yet. 

Gina previously told Daily Mail Australian that season three has been ‘spectacular’ for her.

‘I don’t know if it’s because I found my feet or know it better, but it’s been so much fun,’ she said.

‘Season one I was cringing at the prospect of watching it. Season two I was a little bit worried. But this season I’m really looking forward to it. I think everyone is really going to enjoy it.’ 

Jet-setting! They are shown voyaging across a desert safari in the back of a four-wheel drive

Out of her comfort zone: Gina is shown on a desert safari perched on top a camel

Adventurous! Susie, Janet and Pettifleur are also shown sliding down a water slide in an inflatable tube at a theme park

The synopsis for the first episode has already been released, and in true Housewives fashion, it sounds like a wild ride.

One scene features Lydia and ‘Switch The B***h’ author Pettifleur meeting up to discuss come controversial comments that Gamble made about the 51-year-old’s book.

With tensions building, the ladies get together for a ‘wholesome baking day’ at new Housewife Susie’s home – but it doesn’t take long for the claws to come out.

‘It’s kill or be killed,’ says Pettifleur of the baking day bust-up. 

Viewers will also be treated to divorcees Susie and Janet trying online dating. 

Shocking! A series of surprised and terrified looks from the women are flashed across the screen in quick succession hinting at a very salacious series

Highly anticipated! The trailer finishes with Housewives dolled up to the nines in elegant blue gowns as they strut their way through a ballroom while gold confetti rains down on them

Drama filled! The ostentatious stars will return to TV screens when season three of The Real Housewives of Melbourne premieres on Arena on February 21

Out now: The Real Housewives cast appear in the current issue of NW Magazine 

 

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