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cultural figures
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cultural figures
Rob Shuter
The Creepy Brit Who's Destroying The Honorable Craft Of Celebrity Journalism
OK! is the celebrity magazine that is the most willingly manipulated by celebrity flacks, which is really saying something. So it's perfectly appropriate that the magazine just promoted sleazy former celebrity uberflack Rob Shuter to its executive editor position. That's because Shuter is skilled at doing the two things that OK! is most famous for: lying on behalf of celebrities, and losing other people's money. Even he, the great fabulist, couldn't write a more sickening script than this. More »
publicists
Michael Sands Says "Cheese" As Well As "Cheesecake"
Michael Sands, publicist for Britney manager Sam Lutfi and man who can tell you something about cheesecake, is going to be deposed in Britney's custody case on March 5 [P6]. And he's very enthusiastic about it, because "the truth shall set you free!" Are you as excited about this development as we are? We've told you a bit about Sands' dessert skills, but it's time to roll out some key sections of the biography from his own website, a document full of unwitting double entendres about his own credibility that, we're sure, go totally unnoticed by Sands himself. Which just make them so much more fun. More »
what kind of flackery is this?
The Lies They Tell
Flacks are allowed to hedge, prevaricate, stall, mumble, disappear, and spin, as the case warrants. But no matter how much of a scumbag their client is, they're not allowed to actually lie. It's just bad for business. The definition of a lie has to be loose, or PR wouldn't exist. But sometimes they just pop right out. Like when Kirsten Dunst's rep told Page Six "Kirsten is fine," less than a week before she went to rehab. Sometimes a "technical" truth is still a lie, like when that Interview flack assured us that editor Ingrid Sischy had definitely not left the mag. Although she did two weeks later. And sometimes flacks just rotely lie like robots, like Time Warner's "Don't look behind the curtain" Danielle Perissi. So what we want are your experiences: Which flacks have lied to you? Or, which have told the biggest lies you've ever heard, excluding White House spokespeople? Send tips here. And after the jump, the five most common lies flacks tell reporters. They almost don't even COUNT by now. More »
trouble
Sam Lutfi, Friendly Man
Something for Britney Spears "manager" Sam Lutfi's new publicist to get right on: According to Blender, Lutfi met his best friend Danny Haines on MySpace, got Haines to give him X-rated pictures which he later sent to his family, borrowed $18,000 from him and never paid it back, expressed hope that Haines' sister would get "raped to death," and finally advised him to kill himself. Nice. [Radar/ Blender]
corrections
Flack Ronn Torrosian Says He Placed 'Times' Piece On Joe Francis
We've been asked to clarify an earlier post about jailed wild-girl exploiter Joe Francis, who managed not to make himself look good in the New York Times Styles section this weekend in spite of being given every opportunity to do so. We'd suggested that publicist Mike Sitrick was responsible for the good placement—but 5W Public Relations flack Ronn Torrosian begs to differ: "please call gawker let them know you rep him not mike that got him the piece in NY times. Fix it and let him know," reads an email from Ronn's assistant Katrina, forwarded to us (on purpose? Maybe!) by Ronn. More »
promotions
'Times' PR Queen Catherine Mathis Promoted, Will Now Take Over World
Guess what? New York Times flack Catherine Mathis was totally promoted today! According to a Times press release, the company has made Mathis a senior vice president of corporate communications; she was a lowly old vice president just yesterday! "Catherine is the consummate communications professional. She has a deep understanding of our business and, under her leadership, we have taken a smart, strategic approach to media and investor relations," NYTCo chair Janet Robinson says in the release. We can't really argue with that, seeing as how the release also announces a promotion for the paper's general counsel, but just breezes through his CV. Now that's owning the story. More »
diagnoses
What's Really Wrong With Sloane Crosley?
Five months prior to Riverhead's release of a "heh!"-funny essay collection whose publication surely has nothing to do with her connections, the Observer has seen fit to lengthily profile Vintage publicist Sloane Crosley. She's non-threateningly pretty, often listens to people when they speak to her, claims to have an unusually ample ass for a Caucasoid, and is thus "the most popular publicist in New York." Joan Didion finds her "sweet"; Elizabeth Spiers likes her; Lockhart Steele likes her. You probably like her too. She's pretty much been spending the last few years building a web of alliances that prevents anyone from criticizing her in a public forum! Crafty. But, as reporter and former Weekend Gawkerer Leon Neyfakh discreetly intimates between em dashes, there's a private anguish behind all that public likability. More »
blaming the media
Scott McClellan's Editor Says Reaction To Book Excerpt Was Disproportionate
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's editor Pete Osnos steps to his author's defense on Editor&Publisher today, accusing the media of misinterpreting the excerpt of McClellan's book in PublicAffairs' spring catalog. The snippet, widely publicized last week, seems to accuse high-ranking administration officials, including the president, with direct involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal. "But what was amazing about the response was that it became a huge story before anyone pursued its context," grumbles Osnos. If the "frenzied" "vituperative" media had peeped said context—thought it's a little unclear as to how they were meant to do so, considering that the misleading excerpt was the only part of the book made available!—they'd have realized that "McClellan believes that Bush, at least initially, did not know he was telling his press secretary to relay a series of howlers about who said what to whom."
flack attack
D.C. Opera Hero Hung Out To Dry By 'WaPo' Editor, Crackhead
So Wired editor Chris Anderson can publicly name and excoriate "lazy flacks" who waste his oh-so-precious time with their emails—but Tim Page, the Washington Post classical music critic, is not allowed to send private emails trashing idiot publicists. Last Wednesday, in response to a dumb email blast on behalf of D.C.'s second and fourth mayor Marion Barry, Page wrote back: "Must we hear about it every time this Crack Addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new—and typically half witted—political grandstanding?" Page has been "disciplined," says the Post, and also publicly shamed by Executive Editor Len Downie. In addition, Marion Barry employs the worst communications director working in politics today. When a question was posed to him about the Page situation via email, his first response was: "Who are you and why are sending emails to me?" Now that's talent.
now representing
Rubenstein Flacks Extend Their Empire To 'New York Observer'
Last year, Jared Kushner, the New York Observer publisher and real estate mogul and lover of Ivanka Trump, was represented by publicist Steven Rubenstein—but his weekly pink paper wasn't. (Just last December, one Observer editor (uh, me!) was assigned a short profile of the Rubenstein family, and disclaimed that "Both the Kushner Companies and Jared Kushner, who is the owner and publisher of The New York Observer, are clients of Rubenstein Associates. The Observer is not.") But ever since the paper's physical and web redesigns (the paper went tabloid back in February) took place and the business side was built up, two Rubenstein account reps have been doing "proactive" work on behalf of the paper, according to Steven Rubenstein. (The paper has also recently hired their own first director of marketing, Alexandra Mitchell.) Being represented by Rubenstein is going to make their reporters' jobs fun—look for the sure-to-be-weekly disclaimer in the paper's media and real estate columns, which regularly cover Rubenstein clients.
magic men
David Copperfield Hires The Man Who Reformed Paris Hilton
So magician David Copperfield is under investigation by the FBI for raping a woman in the Bahamas, where he owns a couple islands (one of which has the fountain of youth!). In the last week or so, lots of creepy details about his typical methods of "seduction" have come to light. He or his people would mark the scantily clad girls to come on stage during the show, he'd ask them to meet him backstage, then he'd ask if they like the Bahamas—and who doesn't! So as someone rapidly developing a reputation as an all-around creep who might be a bit rapey, it's time Copperfield got serious. Like by hiring Mike Sitrick! Sitrick, who repped Paris Hilton after the jail thing, has long done great work for sketchy dudes, like supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle and "Girls Gone Wild" king and America's BFF Joe Francis. So Copperfield's in good company! More »
Wired editor Chris Anderson has finally had it up to here. He just published the long list of everyone who's been banned from his inbox—mostly publicists—in the last month. (One of the people he banned works for the Department of Commerce, but hey!) Total dick or total genius? You decide. Also, he only gets 300 emails a day. Ha! Oh, baby. Come over some day and I'll show you my inbox. [The Long Tail]
"I noticed that last year Gawker covered the CLMP Spelling Bee and that a Gawker photographer was in attendance last night. I was wondering if anyone from your team was covering? It was apparent that sponsor, [Redacted] Vodka, definitely added an extra element to the evening for the contestants and guests! It would be great if you could mention that contestants sipped on [Redacted] Vodka Martinis!"
"Top NYC-based publicist looking for a new intern... Laptop required! It would also be a major plus to be a fast typer and thinker, and to be very familiar with Word, Excel, and other office programs (i.e. Entourage). Major plus to be a PR, marketing or advertising major! Compensation is either college credit and exposure, compensation for some expenses." Oh it's so adorable when employers tout "exposure" as a significant job perk. [Craigslist]
getting on the list
The Publicist Party Code: "Pretty Unimportant People Over Ugly Unimportant People"
It was freshman year of college and I'd found myself in a fratboy's bedroom, as we all did at some point. Suddenly, I spied a copy of the facebook of incoming freshmen—they used to be made of paper, did you know?—and before the room's occupant could snatch it from my hands, I was flipping through what turned out to be a complicatedly coded document. Some photos of girls were circled in yellow highlighter, some in blue. Some were both yellow and blue. Some girls' photos had big Xs through them! "What's this about?" I asked Mr. Psi Upsilon. "Oh, uh... that's how we decide who to invite to parties. Heh," he admitted. I was thinking about this the other day when an invite list for a fancy party somehow fell into my inbox, and each name had coded entries like: "[Starry McTvstarlet] UNDER30/CUTE/ONAIR/300/[Starlet] BFriend" and [Modelly McExwife] 300/600/LI/MODEL/FASHION/LITERARY. Whoa! Was this standard industry practice? And what did the codes mean? More »
hanging from the velvet rope
Pissed Publicists Spurned At Last Night's 'In Touch' Party!
In Touch Weekly's fifth anniversary party and obligatory afterparty went down last night at Tenjune in the Meatpacking. We hear a bunch of folks didn't even make it in the door. A publicist of our acquaintance says: "A bunch of us—from television, film, lifestyle brands, hotels, personal reps—were in line for 2+ hours and never let in while the bouncer 'Alex' at Tenjune let his friends (AKA emaciated underage girls) in. They turned away a reporter from The New York Times but let in Ben Widdicomb from the New York Daily News.... I mean, Tenjune is over, they are lucky the party was there and it looked like a hot spot for the night. And we all collectively agreed that we will not buy the magazine ever again or give our projects or celebs to them. We'd rather go to Life & Style! Seriously." Well, that'll be easy, since they have the same editor!
We haven't been watching "The Fashionista Diaries" so we didn't know that Seventh House PR partner Mandie Erickson is the nastiest sow publicist under God's heaven. Is there any reason why her client, designer Charlotte Ronson, shouldn't fire her? [Jezebel]
