SYDNEY – Officials in southern Australia’s Adelaide voiced their disappointment Saturday at revelations that US singer Cher had apparently put her key to the city up for sale on Internet auction house eBay.
The key and accompanying memorial plaque was being sold online by a user called Authentic Cher who claims to be the musician’s “personal consignor” selling her personal effects.
It had attracted a top ask of US$19,700 by Saturday afternoon, with four more days of bidding to go.
But the move offended officials in the quiet city of some 1.2 million people, with Adelaide mayor Stephen Yarwood saying he was “exceptionally disappointed.”
“It must be very embarrassing for her if she is selling it because she needs the money,” Yarwood told the city’s Adelaide Advertiser newspaper.
The man who presented Cher the key, former mayor Steve Condous, said the award had been in recognition of her performance at the 1990 Formula One Grand Prix and the fact that she “added a lot of charisma” to the event.
“I’m disappointed. I would have thought that getting the key to a city like Adelaide would have had some value to her, but obviously it doesn’t because she wouldn’t have got rid of it,” said Condous.
“If she didn’t want to keep it she should have returned it back to the city.”
Used shoes and clothing reportedly belonging to the star were also being auctioned, along with a “personally owned photograph” of Cher greeting Queen Elizabeth II.
Cher, 65, earned both Oscar and Grammy glory in a career which saw her sell more than 100 million records.