Late Tuesday evening, iTricks was made aware of a letter posted on the front page of BambiVanBurch.com. On the letterhead from the International Magicians Society and seemingly signed by Tony Hassini, the chairman and CEO of the organization, it proclaimed that the female illusionist was being stripped of her Merlin awards for 2007 and 2008.
Hours later, the letter was removed.
The letter claims the organization never awarded Bambi the Merlin for either Female Magician of the Decade or Female Magician of the Year for 2009. It demands that she remove any reference to the award from her website or promotional materials. Yet after contacting both Bambi and the IMS, it is unclear if the letter was actually from the organization, how it ended up on Bambi’s site or if she is indeed stripped of her awards.
“The letter you saw was not valid or correct,” Bambi told iTricks yesterday.
She added that she wasn’t clear on why she would be stripped of the Merlins. Chase Goforth interviewed Bambi for iTricks when she received these particular awards in June.
After contacting the IMS for clarification, we received this email from IMS Vice Chairman Max Toth.
The letter was posted on Bambi’s website by someone else other than Bambi VanBurch. It appears that the letter was taken down shortly after it was posted.
What happened between the VanBurch’s and IMS is a private matter and it’s not for publication. There are certain issues that we try to resolve, regarding usage of someone else’s material without permission.
No matter what the outcome, Bambi said she is moving on with her career as a solo illusionist.
“I appreciate the outpouring of support and encouragement that I have gotten from fans and friends in the business,” she said. “I will continue to perform magic, an entertainment media that I have embraced and love.”
Much more on this as it becomes available.