MDA– I don’t get it. They just continue to play word games. It’s all semantics. On their website tote board this morning they’re touting over $54 million raised. You mean last night? From the telethon? No. No No. It’s right there, hiding in plain sight under the numbers: “MDA families thank the generous American public, and the collective contributions of our partners recognized on the telethon, for raising funds to continue the progress in the fight against muscle disease.”

Got that? I bolded the important wording. “The collective contributions of our partners recognized on the telethon.” That’s all the money they’ve collected all year– I suppose it’s since January 1st, 2013. The money collected from big corporations like JiffyLube who became defacto advertisers on the two hour ABC special non-telethon.

In fact, the digital tote board on the website showed just $13 million raised after two hours, and $17 million at 11:23pm. And even that fell under the “collective contributions” rubric.

How much money was raised during that actual broadcast? I think ABC has a mandate to break that down as they allowed this fundraiser on a regular network. If MDA announces $54 million raised on the telethon, ABC is going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Meantime, questions persist about that MGive Foundation, which collected the text message donations. Read my story from last night.

Here’s a new twist: the new president of Muscular Dystrophy Association has invoked Jerry Lewis’s name in a letter to followers. Stephen M. Derks has posted a letter to website www.mdausa.org summarizing MDA accomplishments and asking for support. But Derks, newly installed from his position as head of the American Cancer Society in Chicago. invokes the name of MDA’s former spokesperson and standard bearer even though the organization famously fired Lewis three years ago.

First Derks writes: “Where would MDA and the fight against 43 muscle diseases be without the amazing Jerry Lewis? Certainly, we would not be at this hopeful spot. Forever he will be our greatest “muscle maker,” a true hero in the hearts of millions. He and all of our sponsors, and thousands of celebrities as well as millions of generous Americans who said “yes” to him, brought our fight into America’s living rooms.”

Then he adds: “Thanks to Americans saying yes to Jerry Lewis’ requests and the requests of all our sponsors and volunteers, new, lifesaving breakthroughs are not only on the horizon they are being injected into people today.”

This is what’s known as a “sop.” It’s a way of exploiting Lewis’s name without apologizing to him or making any kind of peace with him. Lewis must be bitterly amused. But Derks knows that regular contributors to MDA have declined tremendously since Lewis’s ouster. He almost must be fearing a bigger drop tonight after the 2 hour “Show of Strength” special, no longer a telethon, on ABC.

Look up the word “sop,” kids.

PS Lewis’s name appears nowhere else anymore on the MDA website. He’s been erased from their history.

Exclusive: details are still sketchy, but I am told that the Whitney Houston estate is putting together a documentary about the late singer. Executor Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, is said to be the executive producer. The film could offer rare home footage and that sort of thing, but it certainly won’t be an objective film about Whitney’s rise and fall. It will most likely be a tribute film, much like the current One Direction infomercial in theaters now.

One thing about so-called documentaries about star singers: you can’t make ’em unless the principle performer or their estate agrees not to block rights usage of music and/or likeness. If a journalist were to make a film about Whitney Houston, the estate would block the rights to use her music. It’s too bad, because an actual doc about Whitney would try to examine what happened to her. This will likely be a rah-rah celebration.

We’ll see what happens, It will  be interesting to see how they handle Bobbi Kristina shacking up with the boy Whitney took in, and everything about Bobby Brown. That movie might be made in 20 years, but not now…