By Richard L. Eldredge
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/14/08
Oh, Tygert Burton Pennington, how could you? That's the reaction at the Decatur Book Festival when news broke that one of their big draws, Ty Pennington —- host of TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and hammer-swinger-made-good —- is going back on his agreement to appear at the festival.
Pennington's people have informed festival organizers via e-mail that Pennington has made another commitment for the same weekend —- Aug. 29-31 —- and is pulling out of the book bash. That other commitment is Oprah Winfrey, who wants Pennington to tape a segment for her TV show.
So just like that, Pennington dropped the Decatur Book Fest like a high school boy who scored a hotter prom date at the last moment. And this from an Atlanta native and Sprayberry High School grad in Cobb County, no less.
The last-minute snub is an unwelcome surprise for the festival, as organizers already had printed thousands of posters and programs with Pennington's name on them. He had committed to promote his upcoming book "Good Design Can Change Your Life."
"This is obviously very disappointing for us and for his fans here in Atlanta," Daren Wang, the festival's executive director wrote in an e-mail. "The publisher understands the hardship this places on a young festival, even one as successful as ours. We are working with them to bring somebody even bigger and better."
Alexis Welby, Pennington's publicist at Simon & Schuster told us in an e-mail: "Due to a change in a TV project Ty is involved in, he regrettably had to cancel his appearance at the Decatur Book Festival. But he hopes to be able to reschedule sometime in the future."
h/t inDECATUR
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