Even by sick puppy standards, this guy takes the dog bone

Many years ago, I saw someone going into a building in my neighborhood: painters' whites, ladder hoist on his shoulder. A painter. I recognized him, but not because he had ever done any painting for me. No, I knew him because I'd seen him in a play the night before. 

If they want to pay the rent and keep body and soul together, most actors (and musicians and artists and writers and - of course! - poets) have day jobs.

So it's no surprise that a bunch of French actors jumped at the chance to make €200 to participate in what they thought was a dress rehearsal for a wedding. 

Turns out the event was a mock wedding being staged by a British sex offender (convicted) that revolved around a 9-year-old bride. And, oh, it was taking place at Disneyland Paris. 

The fake nuptials were canceled before the "bride" walked down the aisle when Disneyland staffers realized that the "bride" was a little girl. 

The episode has raised questions about how a registered sex offender was able to book a private event involving a minor at one of the world’s most prominent theme parks. (Source: NY Times)

In Disneyland Paris' defense, in terms of not knowing he was a sex offender (convicted), Jacky Jhaj was using "a stolen Latvian identity and fake documents to book the event." So there's that. Here's the experience of one of the misused extras:

Yeelen Eyogo Edzang, a French actress in her 50s who responded to one of the ads, said in a phone interview that she arrived early on Saturday at a nearby hotel to get ready for the event. Videos shared with her by other extras showed that a string quartet was already playing before rows of white chairs, lined up with a view of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

Then, Ms. Edzang said, she saw worried-looking members of the park’s staff in front of the hotel.

“The girl is 9; we are stopping everything,” one of them said, according to Ms. Edzang. Through one of the hotel windows, she saw the purported bride, wearing white crinoline, being carried by another woman.

“That’s what really stirred strong emotions,” Ms. Edzang said. “She was tiny.”

Not all the actors were minimally paid extras. (Hey, €200: a gig's a gig.) The man who'd beeen hired to play the father of the "bride" was paid €12,000. When he met the "bride," he knew immediately that something was hinky and contacted Disneyland security.

Not clear how much the actual mother of the little girl, and the child herself, were paid for her role. (The child was examined and found not to have suffered any physical or sexual abuse.) But what was that mother thinking? How was she conned into letting her kiddo play a 9-year-old bride. Didn't this strike her as a bit, uh, odd? Or was it presented to here as a little girl's fantasy wedding?

Back in Britain, Jhaj had spent time in prison for engaging in "sexual activity" with two young teens. He'd picked the girls up near their school, telling them he was a Hollywood producer and plying them with liquor. 

Jhaj is pretty much a general all-round perv. In addition to continue taking videos and photos of young girls on the sly - this was post the criminal activity with the teenagers - in 2023, he:

...had booked hundreds of child extras for a fake movie premiere outside a cinema in Leicester Square in London. The BBC viewed instructions sent to extras by a casting agency that told them to “cry, far-reach and faint” as Mr. Jhaj walked the red carpet.

Not clear whether this was a crime - no charges were filed. Still, it definitely suggests a level of perversity. I mean who wants a bunch of kiddos going Beatle or Bieber crazy for them? (Come to think of it, there may be an answer. While I don't think Jeffery Epstein would have wanted the publicity - he was too busy with his side hustle of being philanthropic and science-y - screaming crowds are pretty much up Trump's alley. He did like hanging around the Miss Teen USA dressing room to ogle the scantily clad contestants. And didn't he hire extras to ring the Trump Tower lobby on the day he descended the gilded escalator to announce that he was going to save us?)

Anyway, Jhaj, an apparent Hollywood wannabe, has pulled a number of publicity stunts, creating and posting videos where he's the center of attention. Surrounded by young'uns. Most of his stunts are not, in fact, illegal. In the Disneyland case, the charges are fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. Maybe not illegal: just pervy and ultra-sleezy. (There's an investigation into whether Jhaj should also be charged with corruption of a minor.)

There's a BBC writer, Noel Titheradge who's been on the Jhag case for a while, and he's yet to figure out how Jhag's perversity-adjacent adventures are being funded. The guy's got pretty deep pockets that are being filled from somewhere. The cost of renting Disneyland for a few pre-opening hours is €130,000. Not to mention how his working with young girls is okay for someone who's on the British sex-offenders register. (Apparently, the list of things he's prohibited from doing does not include being around young girls, as long as their parents are around to supervise. Still...)

As to where Jhaj's money comes from, I'm going with money laundering (as in one of the French charges), drug dealing, arms dealing, or having a rich daddy who's funding his son's film-making fantasies. 

When Jacky Jhaj was in prison, it was at Wormwood Scrubs, which is an apt name for such a creep.

Meanwhile, those poor extras, just trying to put together an actor's life and grabbing onto whatever gig that comes there way.

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Image Source: Kars Travel