Sarah Palin reportedly took advantage of free swag being handed in Hollywood during Oscar® week when she brought her entourage into a shop and loaded up on free gifts. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
Did Sarah Palin and her entourage load their arms with free Oscar® swag?
"They were like locusts," one witness is quoted as telling eonline.com. "She showed up with like 20 people, and they immediately swarmed the place, taking everything."
The Silver Spoon Swag suite in West Hollywood is where Palin, her 15-year-old daughter Willow and the rest of her entourage went shopping yesterday. They reportedly picked out "jewels, watches and 40 pairs of earphones" among other expensive items. Willow also received a blowout from a high-profile hair stylist.
Swag suites are a Hollywood tradition in the days leading up to the Oscars®, with expensive goodies given away to celebrities by vendors hoping to get publicity. According to published reports, Sarah Palin asked that the suite open two hours early so her shopping spree could fit into her schedule.
"She insisted every person in her huge entourage get something, and there were assistants, nannies, security. Insanity," a source told hollywoodlife.com.
Now the left-leaning Huffington Post is accusing Palin of having "Gone Hollywood." But the Los Angeles Times reports Palin, who was in Los Angeles for her big Tonight Show appearance, donated all her gifts to an auction benefiting Red Cross efforts in Haiti and Chili. Willow and Sarah were both wearing Red Cross pins. The press release for the swag suite says Palin also donated $1,700 of her own money.
At a pre-Oscar® event in New York, INSIDE EDITION asked The View's Sherri Shepherd, about her reaction to the controversy.
"I wasn't surprised. They're called gifting suites, and they put out all of this swag for you. You go in, and you're supposed to clean up. I've got a red little wagon. I'm going to one of the gifting suites, and I'm getting everything," said Shepherd.
Sarah Palin told us "no comment" about the swag controversy. Meantime, Palin is also in Los Angeles reportedly shopping around a TV show about Alaska with Survivor producer, Mark Burnett.