Important Legal Notice

June 23, 2025

Official Statement from Characters for Hire ℠

For over 20 years, Characters for Hire ℠ has proudly served as a premier event entertainment provider in over 115 cities worldwide, delivering outstanding experiences to our clients for over a decade. We are an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, holding an A+ rating, and our track record reflects our unwavering commitment to professionalism, integrity, and excellence.

We are aware of certain false and defamatory statements being circulated online regarding our company, primarily connected to an incident that occurred at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. We want to take a moment to provide clarity and context for our clients, performers, and partners who continue to place their trust in us while we pursue legal options.

The Facts

In March 2020, as the COVID-19 crisis led to a full shutdown of New York City, our office building was closed with no tenant access for several weeks. At the time, our accounting system relied on physical checks mailed from our office. A small number of performers, including a makeup artist, were affected by this unforeseen shutdown.

The makeup artist’s payment was processed on March 16, 2020 and was prepared for mailing the following day. Unfortunately, on March 17, the building was locked down as mandated by the NYC Health Department. As a result, we lost access to the checks inside the building until safety systems were installed and tenant access was restored.

We immediately reached out to all affected individuals—including the makeup artist—to explain the situation. Most performers understood and expressed patience, given the global crisis. However, the makeup artist chose a different route. Despite our clear communication, she threatened to post negative and false claims online unless she was paid within days—despite the circumstances being entirely beyond our control.

Once access was restored weeks later, all affected parties were promptly paid. We again contacted the makeup artist to issue her check, requesting only that she remove inaccurate and defamatory comments and confirm in writing that she would cease further disparagement. Unfortunately, instead of cooperating, she escalated the situation by continuing to post harmful and misleading content online, and encouraging others to do the same.

This makeup artist has instead continued to post false and damaging content, including creating a deceptive Facebook page using our registered trademarked logo (U.S. Registration No. 6823423), altered with inflammatory language, which is unauthorized and illegal.

Over the past several years, we have made multiple good-faith efforts to resolve this matter with the makeup artist, including involving legal counsel. We even suggested she work with an attorney so that we could bring the matter to a fair and professional conclusion. Despite our outreach, she declined these options and continued her campaign, which has since included:

  • Creating a Facebook & Instagram page falsely labeling our company as a scam

  • Posting inaccurate claims about our payment practices

  • Discouraging other performers from working with us

  • Orchestrating a series of negative reviews we believe are not from genuine clients or talent

Setting the Record Straight

Let us be clear:

  • We pay all our performers and vendors in full and on time, barring only rare administrative issues which we always resolve upon notification.

  • We do not threaten or coerce individuals into writing positive reviews.

  • We have zero tolerance for slander, libel, or targeted campaigns intended to damage our reputation and the livelihoods of those who work with us.

To any performer or vendor who believes they are owed payment due to incorrect contact details or system errors:  Please call our office at (212) 365-5566 and ask to speak with our Operations Manager or text us 24 hr (646) 355-8855. We are committed to resolving any legitimate outstanding issues.

Final Note to the makeup artist

For the past 5 years, we have remained open to resolving this matter professionally. We have stated many times to her, once you remove the false defamatory content and unauthorized use of our trademark from your social media platforms, our attorney’s will gladly issue you your final payment via overnight delivery. Otherwise, we urge you to proceed through appropriate legal channels, as we have consistently invited. At this point, as of July 2025, this is now a legal matter.

Thank You to Our Current Clients & Talent For Your Support

We appreciate the continued support of our clients, partners, and performers. Your trust means everything to us. Characters for Hire ℠ remains dedicated to providing world-class entertainment services with honesty, transparency, and respect for everyone we work with.

— Characters for Hire ℠