You’re fired

Even in this blah economy, being fired has worked out nicely for Las Vegas headliner Penn Jillette – not to mention a prominent valley charity.

Mr. Jillette was canned by Donald Trump on last week’s episode of the NBC reality series “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Mr. Jillette got the pink slip after his team lost a challenge to create a promotional campaign for Mr. Trump’s new cologne, Success. Strangely, competition judges thought Mr. Jillette’s slogan, “You earned it,” was smug.

Getting the boot from the program won’t hurt the talkative half of the Rio’s “Penn & Teller” magic act. Mr. Jillette is also an Emmy-nominated TV host and writer, an author of best-selling books and newspaper commentaries, and one of the country’s most prominent libertarians and atheists. His profile remains as big as he is.

Unfortunately, his firing means he’s out of the running for the show’s $250,000 prize for the winner’s charity of choice. With so many national nonprofits worthy of such a large donation, Mr. Jillette chose to compete on behalf of Opportunity Village. The organization provides job training, employment and social and recreational programs for Southern Nevadans with intellectual disabilities, and is well-known to most valley residents as the host of the Magical Forest holiday attraction. (Full disclosure: Review-Journal Publisher Bob Brown is on Opportunity Village’s board of directors.)

Before Mr. Jillette was fired from “The Celebrity Apprentice,” he had managed to win $40,000 for the charity – a generous sum by itself.

It turns out, even though Mr. Jillette is out of the NBC contest, Opportunity Village won big regardless. Mr. Jillette’s employer, Caesars Entertainment, was so impressed with his dedication to the local charity that it decided to give $250,000 to Opportunity Village.

Mr. Jillette deserves recognition for using the national stage of “The Celebrity Apprentice” to highlight a local nonprofit such as Opportunity Village. That reminded the show’s audience that Las Vegas is his home, and that it’s a place filled with not only the famous, but with generous, civic-minded individuals who work to improve the community’s quality of life. And Caesars Entertainment’s gesture put an exclamation point on that statement.

Their unselfishness will make a big difference in the lives of Opportunity Village’s clients.