JERRY LEWIS’ PUBLICIST: ‘NO INVOLVEMENT’ IN TELETHON

The plan was to have Jerry Lewis bring down the curtain on the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Sept. 4 telethon with his signature song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

MDA memos sent over the weekend confirmed to various Telethon partners that Lewis would perform the finale in a taped segment with a 30-piece orchestra.

But Lewis’ publicist, Candi Cazau, on Sunday said, “As far I know, there’s no involvement on his part.”

Quoting a source close to Lewis, it was reported here in Sunday’s column that Lewis, 85, was being “reinstated” as host of the telethon.

The source, reached Sunday, said he misspoke, that he intended to say Lewis and the MDA had reconciled, not that Lewis had been reinstated.

Lewis served as host of the telethon since 1966 and as national chairman of the non-profit agency since the early 1950s.

He announced in May that he was retiring as host of the telethon but added that he planned to make his final appearance on this year's Sept. 4 show and would continue to serve as MDA's national chairman.

But the MDA came to another conclusion.

About three weeks ago, the MDA issued a statement saying Lewis had “completed his run” as its national chairman and “would not be appearing on the Telethon."

But the weekend memos suggest the MDA relented and decided to allow Lewis to have a sendoff. One can speculate that pressure from corporate sponsors may have influenced that decision.

--NORM CLARKE, Vegas Confidential