Dennis RomeroWhat if you scheduled a demonstration and the guest of honor didn't show up?
Donald Trump was scheduled to speak to a gathering of Hollywood conservatives at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Brentwood.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles's CHIRLA Action Fund is targeting the hotel, asking it to “disinvite Mr. Trump,” in the words of the group's director of communications, Jorge-Mario Cabrera.
A spokesman for the hotel told us nothing has changed since it stated Tuesday that “the organizations who book these events are solely responsible for their speakers and their content.”
If Luxe doesn't fold, CHIRLA and other organizations plan to gather outside the venue to demonstrate against the GOP presidential candidate, who said June 16 that Mexican immigrants are criminals and “rapists.”
The guest of honor for the demonstration, Cabrera told us, would be those headline-making, villainous piñatas based on Trump's likeness (see a photo of one, above).
He said the party favors might be filled with trash to emphasize the opinion that “all we've been hearing from Mr. Trump has been trash.”
CHIRLA, however, is having a hard time getting its hands on said piñatas. Cabrera says they're often sold out locally. So far the group has located just one for the event.
Luis Marin of Amazing Piñatas downtown confirms that these are hot items.
“Every time we bring one out, it doesn't last more than half an hour in the store,” he said. “We have a lot of orders. People come buy them and say they can't find them anywhere else.”
Marin said he's even had customers drive in from out of state just to buy the Trump items.
Meanwhile, CHIRLA sent a letter to Luxe's general manager Tuesday asking that it pull the Trump dinner, organized by a group called Frends of Abe, from its venue.
On Wednesday the group also started a social media campaign targeting the hotel. Cabrera:
If the hotel does not rescind the invitation or if they don't do anything to stop it, then we will show up in force on Friday at 4:30 to remind both the hotel management and the members of the Friends of Abe that immigrants and Latinos are a force to be reckoned with.
Credit: CHIRLA
CHIRLA wouldn't be going it alone.
Arturo Carmona, executive director of L.A.-based national Latino group Presente Action, told us the nonprofit would encourage its 40,000 L.A.-area members to take part in the protest.
“We are going to be joining forces with many regional and local organizations in not only unwelcoming Mr. Trump but also in ensuring his Hollywood allies are taken to task for supporting this individual that has waged war on immigrants and their families,” he said.
Friends of Abe says it has 1,800 members, including notable Hollywood personalities such as Pat Boone, Jon Voight and Kelsey Grammer.
Late Wednesday the office of state Sen. Isadore Hall, who represents L.A.'s South Bay area, said he has introduced a bill calling on California government “to divest any business relationships with Donald Trump, the Trump Organization or any of his affiliated business entities.”
A spokesman for Hall said it was possible that CalPERS, the nation’s largest public pension fund, has investments in Trump entities; Hall's office was seeking more information on that.
Meanwhile a Los Angeles Police Department West L.A. Division official told us “we are aware that he [Trump] will be here on Friday.”
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