Gawker
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rumormonger
Ben Widdicombe Out at Star? (Yes)
Ben Widdicombe wrote his last Gatecrasher column for the Daily News last April. Three months later, he replaced Julia Allison as Star's gossip maven. Is he already leaving? [UPDATED BELOW: Yes.] More »
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Comment by bnbnbn13: I love how hilariously snarky Ben is -- I hope he abuses the socialites in his new gig! more » | Other threads
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gossip
Daily News Gossip Shakeup: Jo Piazza Out, Gatecrasher Returns
The New York Daily News has trailed the Post's Page Six in the New York gossip wars for a long time. Now the paper is blowing up its gossip columns and starting over. Two major changes went down today. First, husband and wife gossip team Rush & Molloy announced this morning that they'll be moving from a daily column to a Sunday-only schedule, after more than 13 years. Second—and more dramatic—we hear that Jo Piazza, who wrote the paper's Full Disclosure column, has resigned. More » -
celebrity journalism
Escape Is Impossible
Among Julia Allison's many achievements, one stands out: the dating columnist landed a gig as editor-at-large of Star magazine, which consisted of reading the gossip blogs and then opining on television as if she knew the celebrities at the center of the week's scandal—and as if she had a job at Star. Her lucky successor—Allison's contract having expired after her sponsor Bonnie Fuller lost power at the celebrity gossip magazine—is charming Aussie Ben Widdicombe (left, with Horacio Silva of the Times.) More »
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By Nick DentonComment by Kenneth Walsh: Which items are you talking about, Mr. Ben? more » | Other threads
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how things work
Gossip Industry's 'Gaping Aussie Void'
Departing gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe's innuendo-laden items for the Gatecrasher column in the Daily News were always designed for two audiences: the tabloid's middlebrow readers, who weren't intended to get the joke; and the Australian gossip's counterparts, who could be expected to pick up on the camp subtext. More » -
tabloid wars
Ben Widdicombe Will Gossip No More
No, The New York Daily News' Aussie gossip maven Ben Widdicombe isn't dead. But the celebrity-party-booze beat is dead to him. After a recent vacation in his native land of 'roos and convicts, Widdicombe has decided to start enjoying life again. His farewell Gatecrasher column will run tomorrow, but he was good enough to share his feelings with us in advance.
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Comment by The Wintour of Our Discontent: Ben Widdicombe, the celebrated purveyor of unsubstantiated gossip and punner extraordinaire, has crashed his last gate. The comely events fixture,... more » | Other threads
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Tabloid Television
Jared Paul Stern Murdered! (On TV)
The story of former Page Six scribe Jared Paul Stern and creepy supermarket billionaire/attempted modelizer Ron Burkle is being ripped from the headlines of two years ago for an upcoming episode of Law & Order. Daily News gossiper Ben Widdicombe reports that The Daily Show's Mo Rocca will play Stern. In real life, Burkle (who secretly owns Radar magazine and is a constant embarrassment to his bestest bud Bill Clinton) never did back up his claim that Stern had extorted him for $100 grand in exchange for powder-puff coverage, ended up the subject of even more bad press, and is now a defendant in a defamation suit brought by Stern that may well add to his humiliations. On TV, Stern will be dispatched with extreme prejudice. More » -
the fake gays
Tom Cruise, Gay Ruse
Ben Widdicombe recently had a chat with former Village Person Randy Jones, mainly about the geigh singer's new memoir Macho Man. Jones recounted one story from the book, about Tom Cruise, that was eventually vagued-up after the Queen of Scientology's lawyers got involved. Though Jones had no problem talking about the incident with ol' Dame Widdicombe, saying "Tom and I had the same management company at the time. I met him at a party Andy Warhol threw for Peter Gatien's Limelight [nightclub offshoot] in Atlanta." It was apparently "quite the party." Poor Tommy. All these old stories about his early career keep popping up and there's really nothing he can do about it. More »
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Comment by Snarky1: @woolfman: Think of how historically they've gone after anyone who's perceived to be a threat. Would YOU dare to be... more » | Other threads
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party pictures
New York's Six Gossip Monsters
Let's put aside any judgment on the literary qualities of Sloane Crosley's collection of essays, I Was Told There'd Be Cake. One talent is beyond dispute: the author, a book publicist in her day job, is one of publishing's most expert promoters. Crosley has secured interviews and profiles which must make writers with fewer connections insanely jealous; and she handles the suspicion that she's trading on those connections with expertly self-deprecating charm. True to form, her book party, itself a rare event in the penny-pinching publishing industry, drew pretty much the full contingent of New York's gossip columnists. From left to right: Spencer Morgan, slap-happy editor of the Observer's Transom column; some big-headed internet geek pretending to run Gawker.com; Paula Froelich of Page Six; her rival Ben Widdicombe of the New York Daily News; Jessica Coen of New York Magazine; and Radar's online editor, Alex Balk. In the gallery, Chris Wilson, Elizabeth Spiers, Russell Perrault of Anchor Books, Frank Rich's son, Nat, and others. Photos, as always, by Nikola Tamindzic. GALLERY»
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By Nick DentonComment by herPez Hilton: @MisterHippity: HA! That's the painting, you nitwit! Look at the squares - they're painted on. more » | Other threads
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blind item roundup
Who Is The "Single-ish" and Drug-ish Actor?
Just two blind items for you today, the first from Widdicombe: "Which single-ish A-list actor is back to his old ways since splitting with his wife? He was seen handing off a suspicious-looking vial to a hard-partying TV thesp who is about to hit the big screen." Racy. Are Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward still together? Another burning question after the jump. More »
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Comment by hhpeterson13: @MzSeJ: Could it be the pie-making dude from Pushing Daisies? He's in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," opening soon.... more » | Other threads
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heath ledger
Who The Hell Is 'Keith' Ledger? Ask Ben 'Witticombe'
Not surprisingly, the phrase "Heath Ledger" was Google's fastest-rising search term yesterday. The second most buzzy? "Keith Ledger." Who is maybe a video game designer but definitely not a dead leading man. Even HuffPo couldn't get it straight, tagging many of their Ledger posts, including Bonnie Fuller's, with "Keith" instead of "Heath." The blunders weren't limited to the web. On Larry King last night, Daily News gossip columnist and Aussie (Just like Heath! Book him stat!) Ben Widdicombe was identified as "Ben Witticombe," much to his chagrin, we're quite sure. Notice any other bloopers from yesterday's frantic coverage of the actor's death? Let us know.
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By MaggieComment by DorothyMantooth: @MisterHippity: Not to mention Cathy! (p.s. Woody's classic "Isn't that three people?" line from Cheers still cracks me up!) more » | Other threads
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bootlicking
'Daily News' Plays For Hillary's Heart
Was The Daily News brown-nosing just a bit with its wall-to-wall coverage of Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday party today? Not only was last night's Beacon Theater bash on their front page Wednesday, but the paper sent five of its editorial staff to cover last night's fiesta, including a gossip reporter, regular Clinton beat reporter Mike McAuliff, political editors Ian Bishop and William Goldschlag and Heidi Evans, who penned yesterday's space-filling News sidebar on the brush with death Hillary had with deep vein thrombosis. Not only, you know, eww, but it was almost ten years ago! Who cares! Then of course, there was Ben Widdicombe's actual live blogging of the event. Their headlines—"Hil of a milestone" and "Hillary Clinton 60th birthday bash rocks all the way"—are beyond drooly. Is this the only way to compete with Rupert Murdoch for her love?
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By MaggieComment by therealgoogle: @noasalira: Precious government resources would need to address this question, taking away time from their duties serving their people. more » | Other threads
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on the red carpet
The 'Gossip Girl' Premiere Party
Tonight's arrival of the new television show Gossip Girl on the CW is at least the most important event of the week. It is a real-life doomsday scenario for us, in which the lives of 10 wealthy Upper East Side teenagers somehow become intangibly yet irrevocably ingrained into our consciousness. Last night I went into the Tora Bora caves of the Gossip Girls premiere party at Tenjune. Someone had unrolled a black carpet and some velvet rope. On one side, a claque of television cameras and desperate reporters clutching iPods with microphone attachments scrummed with each other to get a quote. On the other, these newly-minted slender starfolk fielded sycophantic questions. The mastermind, "The OC" creator Josh Schwartz, showed up shorter and nicer then expected. "Thanks for the piece," he said. "I really liked it." Was he being sarcastic? Is having your show compared to the largest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor a good thing these days?
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By Joshua SteinComment by the53rdcalypso: No need to watch a whole episode, that would be assuming there was plot and content, there's a 1 minute... more » | Other threads
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blind item guessing game
Is 'Radar' In Trouble Already?
Yesterday the Daily News's resident Aussie-gossie Ben Widdicombe took a break from doing blind items about closeted actors and offered up this little gem: "Which struggling new glossy is so out of money that staffers are having to pay for photos on personal credit cards?" Hmm! The reader who sent this in suggested it was Portfolio, but we're inclined to disbelieve that; for one thing, there's the famous $100 million figure that's been bandied about ad nauseam, and for another, Condé would probably close down first. To be extra fair, we considered all the suspects. More »
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Comment by TedSez: Hey Radar -- I've got a bitchen new camera-phone, and I take PayPal. more » | Other threads
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gossip
We're still obsessing over that Ben Widdicombe blind item: "Which very senior Manhattan media executive looks like he might be about to go public with that office affair everyone has been talking about?" You know what we keep forgetting about? Conde Nast CEO Charles Townsend is in divorce proceedings in a Miami-Dade court. The Herald doesn't list a cause for the filing. He used to work with his wife at Family Circle! (Also we forget that he's a commodore of New York Yacht Club! Bwa.) Now that is something even less than circumstantial evidence if we've ever seen it. But don't men always make the same mistake twice? [Miami Herald] -
gossip
Very slight forward movement on a recent blind item: Remember gossipboy Ben Widdicombe's "Which very senior Manhattan media executive looks like he might be about to go public with that office affair everyone has been talking about?" Well, think Conde Nast. That's as far as we've gotten—but we're not letting this one go. -
polls
Who Is The "Least Attractive" SNL Castmember?
Which smoking-hot young TV actress started on her way in the industry by bedding one of the least attractive 'SNL' cast members while still in college?
Well, Ben Widdicombe, we have no idea which smoking-hot young TV actress ended up on the ol' casting couch—nor how it would help her career, unless it was Tina Fey doing the casting!—and frankly, we don't care. But who is "one of the least attractive 'SNL' cast members? You pick! (For purposes of not driving ourselves totally insane this early in the morning, we've decided that Ben's just talking about the current cast.) More »
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By Emily GouldComment by oddballout: @ellagood About time someone mentioned that train wreck. more » | Other threads
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new york observer
The 'New York Observer' At The Four Seasons
The significance of holding last night's party to celebrate the New York Observer and its new website at the Four Seasons restaurant was intentional, obvious, and not at all lost on anyone. Despite its recent Frank Bruni demotion to two New York Times stars, the restaurant remains the symbolic and probably actual center of New York old-guard media power. After so many years of playing gadfly to the media, politics, and real estate elite of this city, the Observer and its boy-owner and his advisers chose to make a very specific sort of statement. More »
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Comment by dishalicious: @the cajun boy: Good one. But I am so crushing on the Kush. Yummy. more » | Other threads
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dana vachon
Mergers and Acquisitions: A Book Party
The author needed to meet some very important person from the world of publishing, and his tightly-wound editor let him know it by waving frantically and then physically dragging him over to the corner of the bar. Dana Vachon had been born wealthy and healthy and handsome and he was right to view himself as entirely blessed, especially considering that his first novel, Mergers & Acquisitions had already gone to a second printing that very day. No one wore costumes on the night of his book party at Felix, that Eurotrash magnet on West Broadway, but there was no need for costumes to have a masque ball. Everyone knew their role and played it. More » -
media
Media Bubble: MTV Viewers Smarter Than We Thought
- Nobody watched "I'm From Rolling Stone." [WWD] More »
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By abalk2Comment by The Real JR: Yes, but did he shit in the kitchen? Apples and oranges, I think. more » | Other threads
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seventeen
Judging The Shoes of the New 'Toos
The newly installed editor of Seventeen magazine, Ann Shoket, was [at Ben Widdicombe's birthday party], flanked by her publicist. "Ben is the most charming, most dashing .... "
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By Emily GouldComment by ohnoyoudidn't: Wait. Is this seriously about Ann Shoket wearing flats? She's tall, people. Real tall. Of course she's going to wear... more » | Other threads
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remainders
Remainders: Room With a View
- Soon, the Daily News will be all Widdicombe, all the time. Anyone know what ever happened to that Grove guy? More »
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Comment by angelina: ugh. i could do pat in my sleep. I mean not "do" but ugh. whatever. patsy - grab kc -... more » | Other threads
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media
Media Bubble: Everyone We Know
• Sports writers vs. sports bloggers: Whose sublimated homosexual desire for strong, sweaty men will prove dominant in the long run? [92nd St Y] More » -
mario batali
What Has Two Thumbs and a Boatload of New STD's?
Seems like every paper in town is trying to ruin our morning: We're fairly inured to disgust at this point, but there still is a list of things that we'd prefer not to read about over our cornflakes. Very high on that list are: rumors about Courtney Love's sex life; anything with the byline "Michael Wolff"; and rumors about Mario Batali's sex life. Today Ben Widdicombe goes two-for-three in one item:
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star jones
Remainders: Star Jones Calls It a Day
• Jesus lives and saves us all: Star Jones is reportedly announcing her departure from The View, preferring instead to continue her rapid shrinking in the privacy of her own home. If we're lucky, her on-air farewell will be the exact opposite of Katie Couric's: hilarious and laced with blood. [Access Hollywood] More » -
australia
Do You Come From a Land Down Under?
The very small type in our Filofax — yes, we're that old-fashioned — tells us that today is Australia Day. More » -
gay
Tonight: Musto and Widdicombe Get It On at the Gay Center
Among our many problems in life, two of the biggest are these: We are not very good interviewers, and we are not very good gays. Tonight, it seems, we shall have a chance to work on both problems — and, even better, with drinks! More » -
jossip
David Hauslaib Abandons His Jossip Hobby
In nerdy blog news, David Hauslaib, the well-coiffed young thing behind gossip blog Jossip and gay spin-off Queerty, is stepping down after two years of nursing Jossip to maturity. He'll stick around in a management capacity (how very Denton!), but no more daily blogging. His replacement, Corynne Steindler, comes from the sketchy, non-descript environs of Star and Lloyd Grove's desk at the Daily News, though we've no idea what, specifically, any of that means. Not that it matters — as we've found, professional qualifications tend to hinder one's blogging ability. More » -
ben widdicombe
Colgategate: Ungated?
A particularly intrepid reader decided to look at more of Colgate Alito's writing than just his jokey bio, and she presents a solid case that the boy is in fact our man. Take, for example, bits like: More » -
ben widdicombe
Colgategate: Another Burger Drops
Wonky sis considerately provided a link to a Google-cached version of young Alito's bio at the Colgate Forum, and we suspect we've discovered another clue that the collegian in question might not actually be the son of the Supreme Court nominee. Young Alito opens his bio thus: More »
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By JesseComment by Boi From Troy: And he rejected my FaceBook request. Bastard! more » | Other threads
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ben widdicombe
Colgategate: Does Gatecrasher Confuse His College Boys?
Gatecrashing Daily Newser Ben Widdicombe this morning provided some perhaps calming insight into SCOTUS nominee Samuel Alito by quoting the charmingly amusing musings of his son, Phil, on the website of the Colgate college newspaper. Writes Widdicombe: More »
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By JesseComment by mark duffy: This is Gawker Media at its best. Brav-fucking-O. more » | Other threads
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ben widdicombe
Ben Widdicombe Not a Ski Bunny
We're not posting this picture of Gawker Hottie and Daily News gossip-flower Ben Widdicombe to embarrass him. Rather, we want to point out what a fantastic example is being set by the Gatecrasher. Those nostrils couldn't get any cleaner if we picked 'em ourselves. More » -
gossip
Gossip Columnists: The Next Generation
Today marks the beginning of, perhaps, a new era: the NY Daily News has set up Rush and Molloy's bitchy Australian gossip-boy Ben Widdicombe with his own weekend column. And just a few weeks ago, the NY Post launched their own weekend gossip column, hostessed by the even-younger-than-Ben Elisa Lipsky-Karasz. More » -
chichappens
Sam Shahid
Chic Happens is updating again. (Ben Widdicombe: "leave me alone, I was on vacation.") Fashion ad guru Sam Shahid is being sued by his former 23-year-old straight intern Mladen Djankovich for defamation, sexual harassment and false imprisonment. From the complaint: "Shahid tried to kiss Plaintiff. Plaintiff pushed away. Shahid became frustrated and irritated, saying 'What are you fucking worried for, you know you're gorgeous. I would die for you!'" Also: Shahid, apparently not one for subtlety, "stood directly behind Plaintiff and placed his crotch on the back of Plaintiff's head and moved back and forth in a sexual manner. He caressed the back of Plaintiff's neck and head with his crotch and then put his hands down both the front and back of the inside of Plaintiff's shirt, touching his bare skin." More » -
chic happens
Raelian fashion
Ben "Chic Happens" Widdicombe interviews Rael, leader of his very own namesake cult, and examines his fashion sensibilities. In an article that really needs no commentary, Widdicombe writes, "And where a lesser lama would have gone for robes—the classic 'dentist at a Star Wars convention' look, which derails so many fledgling religions—this holiness paired the top with trousers, the boldest move since the Dalai Lama thought, Hmmm . . . saffron." Says Rael, "I think I will one day go to a seminar where I will wear a pink skirt...I think I will; it will be cute. Just to change, to make people think how to be different." More » -
natalie chanin
Gawker Exclusive: Project Alabama
"Yick. Are those Via Spigas? Did you get those at Strawberry?" The 20-something PR lackey didn't actually say it, but his narrowed eyes, suspicious look at The List tacked to his clipboard, disapproving look at me, then back at The List, said it for him. The headset affixed to his cranium appeared to be held in place by a strategic combination of industrial-strength hair gel and the big head he'd developed during the past five days wielding Door Power at various 7th on Sixth affairs. More » -
chic happens
Yet another scene from the Gawker launch party: Ben Widdicombe
Chic Happens co-author, Ben Widdicombe, stating that he was officially boycotting Fashion Week, and that what with them updating regularly now, I'd have to find a new schtick. -
chic happens
Chic Happens
Missed first time round: a profile of the Aussie guys behind Chic Happens, the fashion industry gossip site. These were... More »
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