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September 26, 2007
Last Word On The Removed Entry
A new day, new information on the allegedly hacked e-mails that Roger Friedman has now said are, "all fake."
Frankly, I have no idea whether they are fake or not. There are details in the e-mails, which for someone out to embarrass Friedman, me, and others mentioned would be odd to fake the way they are faked, such as leaving out the actual names of certain people who are referred to and actually are friends of Roger's in situations they may well have encountered. (I will not be naming them here. No one else needs to have added embarrassment.)
In any case, the thickening of the story is that they whole mess apparently came from TMZ.com. Yes, the great success. The great and important step forward for the internet, owned by Time-Warner and AOL. Sister company to Entertainment Weekly and People. The company that has people talking about Harvey Levin as though he is now something other than another scumbag who is happy to live off of the pain of others as a gossip monger.
It has long been a tradition in my work on the web to own ugliness by acknowledging it and moving on. And in this case, just because it is embarrassing to me that anyone - whether the people named in these e-mails or some con artists - would spew these kind of absurdities, it is no reason for me not to treat them as openly as I would were it someone else and I was posting on principle.
So... here is the offending excerpt about me... I note again that Mr Friedman has called the e-mails fake and I can confirm that every single fact about me – offensive or not - in the alleged exchange, other than the fact that I once worked for Entertainment Weekly, is false.
From: rogerfriedman@XXX.net
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 11:09 AM
To: xxxxxx@aol.com
Cc:
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Mel Gibson
Well, you are more curious about David Poland than me – perhaps you guys should go out instead! . Well, let’s put it this way: David wasn’t fired because of his awful writing – though he should have been. Apparently, David had an addiction to “spankin’ the ham” in the bathroom. One day, Owen Gleiberman caught him and let’s just say that Mr. Poland invited Owen to the party and he refused. Owen was pretty offended. After Poland was escorted out of the building a week later, the IT dept. found a lot of pictures on his computer – you know, ones with naked men– and let’s just say that Mr. Poland has a thing for young black men.
RF
Well, adjust my original comment. Roger or whomever's opinion of my writing at EW - which anyone who has ever had a working relationship with EW knows is worked over by editors until it looks nothing like the original reporter's writing - is an opinion and therefore, cannot be false on its face.
Anyway, the point of getting back into all of this is that again... TMZ.com... Mainstream Media if there is any... funded better than most newspapers are these days... ran this shite without contacting me or EW or Roger Friedman or Sharon Waxman or anyone else being libeled or having their privacy invaded, if indeed these are Mr. Friedman's e-mails. And it is inexcusable.
This notion that you can publish this kind of thing and then pull it off your website when someone complains – and you know you have no journalistic leg to stand on – and that it’s all okay because it’s now off your site, is a load of crap.
At the very least, TMZ should do the right thing, follow up on the source of the alleged e-mail chain, and follow up on the gossip they have spread from whatever sleaze dreamed them up and publicly apologize to everyone who has been abused by the lies.
As best I can tell, to sue TMZ in America, I would have to be able to prove intent. And there is weak standing to sue Roger, even if he wrote these e-mails, because the exchange was intended to be private and there is no indication that he leaked them intentionally, so the damage he would be responsible for was minor.
As I indicated before, there is another web personality who has also repeatedly made up nasty lies about me in private e-mails and circulated them to people in the industry. In that case, the attacks are more clearly intended to do damage to my professional reputation and are equally clearly of this person’s personal creation and not a rumor started by some other idiot and passed along. Still, a lawsuit is a tough road and a restraining order, beyond the time involved with that, would require future enforcement. An even bigger nightmare than being lied about.
Of course, there is the addition oddity of people who should know better, who are grown ups and have been in media for years, who see all of it as a joke. Laugh it off. Ha ha. Only people who haven’t been on this side of it find it funny. And how do you tell people who find something amusing that it is not amusing at all? The disrespect that people show by willingly disregarding the feelings of people who are trying to simply be treated fairly is mind boggling sometimes.
All of which comes back to the finger wagger in me, who wants to scream often about the degradation of how we engage in discourse, starting with the media outlets that are best built to be above that fray… which includes Time-Warner. CNN should not be in the business of giving the audience what it wants any more than the world is better off for a site like TMZ to be an amalgamation of all things gossip.
The good news is that sunshine still disinfects and I expect that TMZ, with its hideous TV show and the gaping maw that all this attention has created for it and the website, already jumped the shark. It’s not going anywhere. Not now. But when the TV show goes the way of Celebrity Justice next year and AOL realizes there is no way to monetize the web site alone to cover its cost of production, the budget cuts will start and the slow, steady, very AOL march towards Entertainment Asylum II will begin.
It couldn’t happen to a sleazier website.
Posted by poland at September 26, 2007 10:48 AM
Comments
Some whacked out cracker-jack stated in an email to some yokel; "David wasn’t fired because of his awful writing – though he should have been. Apparently, David had an addiction to 'spankin the ham' in the bathroom. One day, Owen Gleiberman caught him and let’s just say that Mr. Poland invited Owen to the party and he refused." Good freakin lord. I would not fault Heat for throwing a chair upside someone's head for that bullshit. This is absolute vitrolic cattiness that has no place being posted on someone's website as some what factual. Fucking chicanery.
Posted by: IOIOIOI ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 26, 2007 01:20 PM
Foul lies. What would a nice Jewish boy be doing with a ham anyway?
Posted by: Ian Sinclair at September 26, 2007 01:26 PM
Spank it, apparently.
Posted by: Edward Havens at September 26, 2007 02:43 PM
Ian.
i don't think i've ever laughed so hard at a comment on the web in my entire life.
David,
can't you sue them for running false and damaging information without any kind of validation. the fact that it ran at all, even if it was pulled, has to be worth six figures.
Posted by: anghus at September 26, 2007 02:50 PM
I know peoplw are aggrieved by such misbehavior, but I love this kind of shit.
One would think Owen would be happy to join in on Poland's furtive bumblings.
Posted by: Wrecktum at September 26, 2007 03:11 PM
Dave, don't let the bastards get to you. And congrats on posting this on your site and facing it upfront. And just know that it's a sign of your celebrity status when they start coming after you. I could care less who or what you're attracted to....I enjoy your site, read it everyday, value your opinion, enjoy your mistakes, and appreciate your efforts here.
Posted by: Glamourboy at September 26, 2007 03:14 PM
"This notion that you can publish this kind of thing and then pull it off your website when someone complains – and you know you have no journalistic leg to stand on – and that it’s all okay because it’s now off your site, is a load of crap"
this is the number one problem with the internet in general. running a story, and when it's a problem, you just take it off the site like it never existed. It's maddening and an insult to the very concept of journalism.
Retractions will be a thing of the past. Instead, we'll just pretend it never happened.
how depressing.
Posted by: anghus at September 26, 2007 03:18 PM
Thanks for nothing, David. Now, for the rest of my life, whenever I hear someone say "brand spanking new," I'll think: ham spanking...
And I'll have an image inside my head that, frankly, I don't want there.
Posted by: Joe Leydon at September 26, 2007 03:19 PM
Dave, if you decide not to sue them, then try and forget everything about this stupid issue. Do not let them affect you -- that's precisely what people like that want: to know they have made their enemies mad.
Fucking bastards.
Posted by: Pablo Villaça at September 26, 2007 03:21 PM
That's frigging nutty...seriously. Not to cast more speculation and innuendo....but the timing on this coming after the big bloggers 3 blowup (Wells/Finke/DP) couldn't be more accusatory...
Posted by: PetalumaFilms at September 26, 2007 07:42 PM
They essentially accused Heat of pulling a Sal the Stockbroker. I am thinking that someone has been listening to Howard and paying too close attention to congressional scandals, and decided to cobble together this nonsense about Heat. Seriously... some of the whackiest shit I have ever come across on the next since that other goofy shit a few weeks ago.
Posted by: IOIOIOI at September 26, 2007 09:24 PM
IO: Sal and Richard are both crazy...I wonder when they'll finally just bite the bullet and get it on.
Posted by: Noah at September 26, 2007 09:39 PM
Noah; Sal will get it on with a prostitute before he gets it on with Richard. Those two represent all the latent homosexual silliness, that straight men have been propragating for years. If only Seth MacFarlane or the guys from Entourage could give Sal a job. HE WOULD SHOW THAT ARTIE!
Posted by: IOIOIOI at September 26, 2007 09:47 PM
It's not that hard to show up Artie these days, as long as you don't eat days old meatball sandwiches. By the way, IO, I hope you know that I consider you my emotional friend.
Posted by: Noah at September 26, 2007 10:01 PM
4-1-3 Noah. 4-1-3.
Posted by: IOIOIOI at September 27, 2007 04:28 AM
First Wells and the infamous nudie pics email, and now this? Dave -- do you think that the two are in some way related?
Posted by: Ju-osh at September 27, 2007 02:59 PM
Well, first off, the Wells story was 100% accurate... this one is 100% not.
Second, I still have no idea where this came from. I haven't even seen the entry from TMZ, as it was down when I heard about it. So I have no idea where it came from. But if pushed, I would guess that the e-mail was real, even if the rumor about me in it was not, even though Roger - who doesn't really want to get sued - claims it was all fake.
But no... I don't think they are connected.
Posted by: David Poland at September 27, 2007 03:15 PM
Well, like the others have said, sorry for your troubles. You're handling it quite admirably, though.
Posted by: Ju-osh at September 27, 2007 04:38 PM
Could it be the long-delayed revenge of the Hicksville Pod?
Posted by: frankbooth at September 28, 2007 12:58 AM
Nah, he was always a suckup as far as DP was concerned.
Posted by: jeffmcm at September 28, 2007 01:35 AM
"Apparently, David had an addiction to 'spankin the ham' in the bathroom. One day, Owen Gleiberman caught him and let’s just say that Mr. Poland invited Owen to the party and he refused."
Man, that just ain't kosher.
Posted by: Ogami Itto at September 28, 2007 08:17 AM
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