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wtf

The Socialite's Nazi Publicist

Ok guys, deep breaths. Do you know the Fanjuls? Pepe and his lovely wife Emilia? They're maybe the wealthiest Cuban-American couple in the nation. Emilia, a socialite about Palm Beach, the Dominican Republic, and, yes, New York, is famous for her charitable work. Recently she's made a couple headlines for her newest project—"helping to finance and build a sparkling new campus for Glades Academy, a charter school in the town of Pahokee, Fla.," a town full of impoverished migrant workers and their families. So it's odd, isn't it, that her "executive assistant" and publicist is a white supremacist. More »

celebrity science

The Gawker Wasted 20

It's shaping up as a cruel summer for drunk, high or otherwise messed up celebrities trying to stay on the straight and narrow. Comedian Andy Dick was arrested this week for groping a 17-year-old's breasts while in possession of marijuana and Valium, in something of a reprise of his bust last year for doing blow in a nightclub. Actress and teen rehab veteran Drew Barrymore is now reported to have boozed her way to a breakup with actor Justin Long. Heather Locklear fled "depression and anxiety" rehab in Arizona after barely two weeks. Even a Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood, surrendered himself to rehab again after leaving his wife for a 19-year-old cocktail waitress — and two bottles of vodka per day. Maybe all that summer daylight is pushing everyone over the edge! In any case, it's tough to keep track of who's where on the customary arc of high-profile substance abuse: embarrassment, criminality, rock-bottom desperation, rehabilitation and then either another trip around the circle or a break into the freedom of sobriety. That's why we've compiled a guide to once and future inebriated celebrities: 20 actors, singers, models and socialites who hog way more than their fair share of space in the gossip pages — and here on Gawker. We'll update and expand this list over time as a sort of encyclopedia of shame; your comments and tips are encouraged. (The arrows, by the way, indicate trends in drunkenness, so an upward arrow means getting drunker, downward means getting more sober.) More »

The Most Important Auction Of Our Time

Andrew Krucoff Wins The Culture War

Ladies and gentlemen, the proud new owner of the FSU Middlebrow Remix Version of Keith Gessen's All The Sad Young Literary Men is Andrew Krucoff—the former "Gawker Mascot" once fired by Conde Nast for leaking to this website. He was also recently called a "pussy" by the author in question, Keith Gessen! You can see the circle of life turning, turning. So what will become of this coveted and (we daresay) historic volume? All can now be revealed: More »

jobs

AP's Celebrity Bumbler Now Covering Ethnicity

You might remember Jesse Washington: He's the Associated Press editor who last year issued an ill-conceived ban on Paris Hilton news that, after much to-do, was lifted in less than two weeks. Within a year, the AP went entirely in the other direction, telling staffers "everything involving [celebrity] Britney [Spears] is a big deal," a reversal Washington awkwardly, and overenthusiastically, joined, again making waves with the announcement that the wire had already written Spears' obituary amid the singer's psychiatric breakdowns. He also rather rashly said in a video interview that "if you want to know that it really happened [in celebrity news], then you're going to have to go to AP... If we put it out, you can bet the house on it that it really happened." That hyperbolic claim was undermined a few months later, when a source claimed "the AP misquoted me" as saying actor Paul Newman had cancer. Having displayed such a nuanced touch, what might Washington's future be at the wire service? Why, covering the sensitive topic of race and ethnicity! In fact, Washington beat out 448 other applicants for the position of national writer on such matters, according to an AP staff memo from U.S. News Managing Editor Mike Oreskes: More »

books

Times Reporter: "I Was A Fat Thug Who Beat Up Women And Sold Bad Coke"

How does David Carr pull this off? The Times media critic writes in his forthcoming memoir of drug addiction that he kidnapped his children, smacked around his girlfriends and left two babies in a near-freezing car on the street for hours while he got high. This in addition to dealing drugs and fathering crack babies, which we already knew about. It's all in his book excerpt from next Sunday's Times Magazine. And yet, after reading the account, it's remarkably hard to detest the guy. More »

movies

New York, Destroyed 15 Different Ways

Dark Knight opens at midnight, and as the previews show, the city gets beat up pretty bad in the epic battle that ensues. New York is always getting destroyed over and over again in movies. Why? Because it looks awesome! Here are clips of the 15 best films featuring New York getting annihilated, curated by Nick McGlynn. (NYC Photoshop Hallucination By Richard Blakeley.) More »

Field guide

Learning To Love Banksy

GOD, we've heard so much about Banksy this week. Yes, you know he's the supersecret anonymous world-famous street artist whose identity may have been revealed at last. But some people do not understand why this is the biggest art story of our generation. At least if you love democracy, freedom, and hilarity! Come along then, as we take a brief whirl through the world of Banksy: An artist that does not suck. With two dozen pictures, yo! More »

celebrity-industrial complex

Barack Obama's Network-Anchor Groupies

When Barack Hussein Obama summers in his ancestral home of Iraq in a few weeks, along with some other foreign places, the trip will, of course, turn into an elite party for his showbiz friends, all of whom are clamoring for seats on his campaign plane. Katie Couric of the CBS Evening News is arranging an on-trip interview, as is Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News and Charles Gibson of ABC World News. Meet The Press wants to talk to Obama. "Star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines" are also coming, the Times reports for Thursday's paper. So, why all the enthusiasm? John McCain's last big tour in the war zone was relegated to the evening news remainders bin. And the network newscasts have already given Obama 114 minutes of coverage since June, to McCain's 48, according to some study. The official reason: This is Obama's first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. The real reason? Let's ask some starfucking magazine editors! More »

breaking

Jesse Jackson Did Use The N-Word

The Fox News Channel is now admitting that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson used the word "n—-er" in comments about Barack Obama in front of cameras in Fox News' Chicago bureau. Fox told AP tonight that Jackson said the Democratic presidential candidate was "talking down to black people ... telling n—--rs how to behave" (that sentence fragment having first appeared on TVNewser earlier today). A Fox News Channel insider told Gawker nearly a week ago that Jackson had used the n-word, although it's not true, as we were told at the time, that the remarks were directed at Obama. Still, there's no small amount of hypocrisy at work on Jackson's part: He once called for a ban on any use of the slur. Fox's confirmation that Jackson used it himseld comes after Fox spent yesterday issuing carefully-calibrated denials about the incident. More »

print is dead

Print's Black Wednesday

Earlier today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced that it's cutting almost 200 jobs—8% of its total workforce—due to "tough economic times." This afternoon, the Wall Street Journal sent out a staff memo saying that the paper is eliminating 50 editing jobs for "strategic" reasons. Less than an hour later, word came that Greg Osberg, president and publisher of Newsweek, is stepping down with no clear successor. (Newsweek editor Jon Meacham's crusade to appeal to the youth apparently hasn't taken effect quickly enough for Osberg, a digital advocate). This has been an extraordinarily bad day for print media by any standards. But take a look at the chart above—an illustration of newspaper industry stock prices over the past five years. There will be many more bad days to come.

careers

Be Nice To Writers Or They'll Give You A Brain Tumor

Unless that's what you want. Katherine Heigl may have finally done it. Someone on the inside at her popular show Grey's Anatomy is whispering that Heigl's character, Izzie, will get a brain tumor and possibly die in the upcoming season. “It’s their way of screwing with her," the insider says. "She won’t know whether she’s going to live or die.” Hah! ABC has only confirmed that her former costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan—who played a patient that she loved but sorta killed (right?)—will be back in the saddle for some episodes. The inside source says that he'll be appearing in Izzie's tumor-induced dreams/hallucinations. So yeah, she may have finally pissed off the showrunners enough to get once-and-for-all written off the show, which she seems, foolishly, to be gunning for. I mean what other reason could she possibly have to publicly trash the writers (saying that their writing for her character made her unworthy of Emmy consideration)? You know, other than rampant unchecked ego. Now, I'm sure that if the character passes on, the decision will be chalked up to gentle creative differences. But we'll know the truth: it was revenge. More »

not afraid to be servicey

How to Make Fun of Barack Obama

Poor Maureen Dowd doesn't know how to make fun of Barack Obama. It's actually pretty easy! Everyone misses Bill Clinton because he enjoyed extramarital sex with interns and oddly unattractive women, he had a southern accent, and he was kind of chubby. Everyone will miss George W. Bush because he's stupid. Those traits are so, so easy to mock! But the problem is jokes about those traits were and are and always have been terrible. Have another Big Mac, Bubba! Then put a cigar in someone's vagina! Hey George Bush you look like a chimp! And, like a chimp, your grasp of complex concepts like grammar is often lacking! Jesus. Stop already. Obama's a godsend, because he lacks those easy buttons. So everyone has to be more creative with their humor. Allow us to help you! More »

sports

Glory Of The Games: 25 Olympic Hotties

Everyone's nervous about the Olympics this year. The Chinese government's politicization of the ceremonies reminded sponsors and spectators alike of its human rights record, particularly in Tibet. Broadcasters are pushing back against restrictions on TV reporting. Athletes are concerned about air quality. In short, the Olympics are the same politicized mess they've always been, and more commercial than ever. How to keep everyone focused on the athletic action? Easy, just keep the cameras pointed at the lithe young hardbodies that flock to this competition every four years. And if that seems like a lecherous degradation of a noble event, remember this: the Olympians themselves are notoriously bad at keeping their hands off one another once they get eliminated from competition. Remind yourself by browsing this photo gallery of hot Olympic athletes past and present, curated by intern Nicola Gherson. More »

scandal

Vanity Fair Editor Arrested for Infiltrating Elite Private Club

Vanity Fair writer Alex Shoumatoff got himself arrested for crashing Bohemian Grove, a private men's club in northern California for the upper echelon of the rich and powerful. He was there to spy on the three-week camp they hold every July, where said rich and powerful relax while living in tents in their private woods. (Nixon was a member, but called it "most faggy goddamn thing that you would ever imagine.") The backstory on the weird club, plus the reason for the trespassing and arrest? More »

foorfaraw

How You Were Supposed to Respond to the 'New Yorker' Cover in 5 Easy Steps

Were you confused when you woke up Monday and some members of the elite were outraged about something and other members of the elite were not outraged? Internicene elitist warfare! Confusing! If you were like everyone on the internet, your reaction to that New Yorker cover satirizing the rumors about the Obamas went through five steps, from shock on Sunday to acceptance earlier this afternoon. Let us explain! More »

sort of heroes

The Few Celebrities Who Wouldn't Sell Pictures of Their Kids

Babies! Famous people have been having them! And then they also sell photographs of the babies because, in some twisted Dina Lohanian world of logic, selling the photos of the babies somehow mitigates the other paparazzi attention the little squirming things would inevitably receive. It's a highwire act of faux inferential reasoning, but it seems to be popular. Probably because of those millions of dollars. Brad & Angie (Pitt & Jolie) haven't yet announced plans to sell their new twins' souls (if you believe the Injuns), but they did hawk pictures of their other real kid, Shiloh, donating the proceeds to charity. So yeah, lots of people are doing it. But who hasn't? Which big-time celebs adamantly refuses to publicize, for no valid reason, their progeny? Take a look at a little gallery after the jump. More »

investigations

Evidence: Banksy's Facebook Page

I got some good news on the Facebook front last night: I am now friends with one Robin Gunningham of Bristol, UK—also known as Banksy, the formerly undercover world-famous street artist who was outed as Gunningham yesterday. (Or was he? No official confirmation yet, although the case is strong). Gunningham's Facebook page sports the same schoolboy picture that appeared in the Daily Mail's investigative story. And it has further evidence that he is, in fact, Banksy—unless the whole thing is part of a clever hoax, or the product of a third party with ulterior motives. Words and photos straight from the guy who might be a legend, after the jump: More »

laura ingraham

The Crankiest Fox Blonde of All

Talk radio superstar Laura Ingraham (the top-rated lady host on the airwaves!) finally got her own television show on Fox News after acting as Bill O'Reilly's official guest-host for 100 years. It lasted for three weeks! In part because she's strenuously unpleasant, as these ten minutes of her preparing for air demonstrate. Once again, Harry Shearer's magical satellite dish captures off-air television gold. Watch as Laura requests that you don't come in her ear and complains of a strange Hispanic gentlemen showing up in her prompter. (Fun fact: she used to date Keith Olbermann like ten years ago!) Clip below. Enjoy. More »