Waldorf not so ‘ghetto’ after all?

Good Charlotte’s Madden defends Duff, hometown

Friday, June 23, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Associated Press⁄KathyWillens Rock star Joel Madden, right, stands by his woman and defended actress girlfriend Hilary Duff, who characterized Waldorf as “pretty ghetto“ in a recent interview. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Madden, who plans to bring Duff, star of the recent movie ‘‘Material Girls,” to the county over the Independence Day holiday, said he and his girlfriend have been unfairly characterized by the celebrity media echo chamber.

‘‘I don’t even know where [the comments] came from,” Madden, 27, said Thursday in a phone interview from Vancouver, British Columbia. Madden said that he hopes Waldorf residents will not take offense to the reported comments, adding, ‘‘In my business, I guess people try to take anything you say and try to make something out of it.”

Madden is the singer for the pop-punk band Good Charlotte, which he founded with his twin brother, Benji, and three other Maryland musicians in 1995. The band has produced a string of rock radio hits in recent years, including ‘‘Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous,” ‘‘Anthem” and ‘‘Boys and Girls.”

Duff’s comments were first published in an interview in the July issue of the fashion magazine Elle. The magazine quoted Duff, 18, saying that Madden was ‘‘from a pretty ghetto place in Maryland,” referring to Waldorf.

The MSN Web site’s ‘‘Hot Gossip” column then repeated the quote earlier this week, along with a comment from People magazine, in which Madden reportedly said, ‘‘I really want her to see where I grew up, because [it’s] sort of a humble place. It’s not Hollywood at all. I want her to see that different life and take her to jobs I used to have — unloading trucks, making pizzas and waiting tables.”

When Waldorf resident Bosha M. Hoch saw the MSN post, she took the couple to task.

‘‘I take offense to Miss Duff’s labeling of Waldorf,’” Hoch wrote in an e-mail to the Independent. ‘‘Whether the faux pas was the work of Joel Madden’s lack of ‘street cred’ or imagination, he has done his hometown a huge disservice.”

Given Waldorf’s respectable median income and soaring housing prices, Hoch indicated that Duff’s comment doesn’t match the reality of Waldorf.

‘‘I did not move to a ‘ghetto,’ nor, because I am a minority, would I like to have my place of residence be referred to as one,” Hoch wrote. ‘‘Having said that, I don’t believe Miss Duff was being malicious. ... I suppose the image of having a ‘boy from the hood’ versus a young man from a small Southern Maryland town, makes her bona fide. If that’s her truth, so be it, but don’t project.”

Waldorf is more than one-third minority, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimate.

The Washington Post’s Style section echoed Hoch’s sentiments Thursday, calling Duff’s comment ‘‘so offensive in so many ways we don’t even know where to begin.”

But Madden said he and Duff did not intend to offend.

‘‘I brag about Maryland all the time,” Madden said, adding that he has been ‘‘planning this trip for about a month. I’m excited about coming home. There’s no place like Maryland.”

Madden said he plans to show Duff his alma mater, La Plata High School, and take her to Capt. Billy’s Crabhouse restaurant in Pope’s Creek for some ‘‘real” steamed blue crabs.

‘‘She’s never had real crabs,” Madden said, adding that Duff usually eats prepared crab dishes and has yet to take up a wooden mallet in pursuit of dinner.

Duff’s publicist, Marcel Pariseau of True Public Relations, released a statement from the star denying the reported comments.

‘‘I never said any of those negative words regarding Joel’s hometown of Waldorf, Maryland,” Duff was quoted as saying. ‘‘I’m looking forward to visiting Waldorf as Joel loves the town and calls it a historical and special place. I can’t wait to get there!”

Duff’s and Madden’s reported comments are not the first time the U.S. 301 corridor has been drubbed in the national media. In 1955, the travel magazine ‘‘Man’s Conquest” wrote a brutal article skewering Waldorf’s casino scene. After Charles County business leaders read the article’s descriptions of Waldorf as a ‘‘wide open sin strip” and ‘‘felony row,” they banded together to form the Charles County Chamber of Commerce and compose a counter-spin article for a rival publication.

Since the founding of the chamber of commerce, the county government has also jumped onto the community promotion bandwagon with its Economic Development Department. John Reardon, the county’s economic development director hired in 2005, now has the job of selling Charles County and its largest development district to outside investors. So far, he said, it’s going quite well. The county plans to import 12.5 million square feet of professional office space in the coming years, with nine million of it slated for Waldorf.

‘‘Waldorf has come a long way,” Reardon said. ‘‘Waldorf is doing quite well.”

Reardon said it is a credit to Waldorf that it was able to produce a musician with the star caliber of Madden.

‘‘Waldorf created good people,” Reardon said. ‘‘We’ll welcome [Madden] with open arms, and we hope he’ll introduce us to his girlfriend.”

Commissioner Allan R. Smith (R), whose election district includes much of Waldorf, suggested that Duff needs to meet the people of Waldorf before drawing any final conclusions.

‘‘I wouldn’t mind escorting [Duff] around and showing her a different side of Waldorf,” Smith said. He acknowledged that the town’s highway sprawl isn’t very attractive, but noted that county officials are ‘‘working very hard to give Waldorf a facelift.”

E-mail Jay Friess at jfriess@somdnews.com.