Who’s Hosting MDA Labor Day Telethon?

The final of the big three Frog Days of Summer is approaching...Labor Day on Monday, September 5th. As we were told a few weeks ago, for the first time in 46 years, Jerry Lewis will not host the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon.

We learned earlier this year that this would be Jerry's last year as host, but then we heard that he will not appear on the telethon nor continue as MDA national chairman. As a lifelong Jerry Lewis fan and an annual contributor to Jerry's kids during the telethon I have to ask, "What's up?"

According to an article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times:

"Jerry Lewis' MDA telethon status gets nutty

August 21, 2011

It's becoming a story right out of a Jerry Lewis routine. The comedian, who was unceremoniously relieved of his duties as host of the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon two weeks ago, seemed poised to reclaim those host duties, at least according to a Sunday gossip column in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The column, written by longtime city reporter Norm Clarke, said that "Comedy king Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association have made peace," going on to say that "In a stunning reversal, Lewis was reinstated Saturday to the MDA Labor Day Telethon he has hosted since 1966," attributing the information to "a source close to Lewis."

But late Sunday Clarke sent a tweet that appeared to recant the story ."A source told Vegas Confidential that Lewis had been 'reinstated,' " Clarke wrote. "The source clarified that today, saying he meant reconciled."

Clarke's muddled retraction comes after a period of denial and confusion.

Reached just before noon, Lewis spokeswoman Nancy Kane told Show Tracker she had not heard anything of the news and would reach out to her client to confirm; she has since been unavailable. A second Lewis spokeswoman, Candi Cazau, then told Reuters that the report was untrue. "Him being reinstated as the host of the MDA telethon is not accurate," she said. Clarke would later also tweet a denial from an unnamed Lewis publicist."