Toby Young, our favorite gadfly from across the pond and media memoirist par excellence, has a brilliant analysis of Burklegate this morning:

According to an associate of his, Burkle hates publicity and hates having his name in the papers, so why oh why did he orchestrate a sting operation against Page Six?

As a method of deflecting unwanted media attention, it's right up there with exposing your nipple at the Super Bowl halftime show. Did he really think that Jared Paul Stern would throw up his hands, say, "You got me," and then crawl under a rock, never to be heard from again? Did he honestly imagine that the rest of the media would pat him on the back, thank him for his service, and then never write another word about him?

But the kicker comes further down:

The next shoe to drop, apparently, is that Burkle is no stranger to using rather unorthodox methods to try and control what's written about him in the press. The New York Observer is working on a story about Burkle's attempt to have an in-depth profile of him in a glossy magazine quashed...

Burklegate [Toby Young] - JPS

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