Nowhere do any of the articles say why the Harkles "had to turn down" the mayor's alleged "invitation" to be the star guests. Invention by the DM, or story put out by the oh-so-busy Harkle PR team? If they were invited, perhaps they were told "nope" by Netflix, which then chose to send its own Heaving With The Harkles team instead? If that's the case, then perhaps the "secret but leaked" invitation to the mayor was an attempt at circumventing Netflix?