Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres




"Fox News sources are firing back against both Brian Lewis, the recently-fired Fox News executive vice president of communications widely reported to be Fox News chief Roger Ailes’s right-hand man, and Gabriel Sherman, a New York magazine contributing editor and the author of The Loudest Voice in the Room, a forthcoming book about Mr. Ailes and the rise of Fox News.  Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Mr. Lewis was hammering out details of a separation agreement with the network after he was 'fired and escorted from his office last month over what insiders are calling financial issues and other performance problems.' Fox News confirmed the story, adding that he was terminated for cause on July 25. 'After an extensive internal investigation of Brian Lewis’ conduct by Fox News, it was determined that he should be terminated for cause, specifically for issues relating to financial irregularities, as well as for multiple, material and significant breaches of his employment contract,' a spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.Mr. Sherman weighed in on the news in a NY Mag blog post, where he summarized how Mr. Lewis’s one-time influence on Mr. Ailes had waned of late. As evidence, Mr. Sherman recounted a 2012 conversation he had with Mr. Lewis in which the communications executive explained that he disagreed with his boss over suing Fox News mole Joe Muto, who wrote about the network for Gawker (and then got a book deal). But maybe Mr. Lewis had one too many conversations with Mr. Sherman." (Observer)


"Orange was the new black for Taylor Stein, the daughter of legendary nightclub owner Howard Stein, after she punched her billionaire ex, cosmetics heir William Lauder, in the face.  Sources say the pair got into an argument on the street in Los Angeles. The screaming match turned physical, and Stein’s fists of fury left her victim, the grandson of Estée Lauder, red-faced, so he called police to have her arrested, The Post’s Richard Johnson reports. 'He’s literally twice her size,' one friend of petite, attractive, blond Taylor told Page Six. 'If I’d been him, I would have been embarrassed to press charges.' Lauder, son of billionaire Leonard and the late Evelyn Lauder, was so intent on keeping his affair with then-New York socialite Stein and the birth of their now 6-year-old daughter, Djuna, a secret, he agreed six years ago to give Stein $3 million if she left town and never came within 100 yards of any member of the Lauder family, including himself. But after the LA punch-up last November, he wanted her prosecuted. After being released on $50,000 bail — and several court appearances — Stein pleaded guilty in May to misdemeanor domestic violence. By July, Stein had paid fines totaling $1,834 and completed 19 days of community service, cleaning streets for the California Department of Transportation. The single mother-of-two — whose father owned Xenon and Au Bar — was seen wearing orange coveralls as she swept trash in Santa Monica, looking a lot like the inmates in 'Orange Is the New Black,' the Netflix series based on the prison memoir by Piper Kerman." (PageSix)


"Meanwhile, summer reading aside, was out East in the land of the salt and the sand and the hedge fund heroes, Adriann Swann was swanning about for the NYSD. He reports: 'I find myself cursing at out-of-town license plates. The traffic is the worst I have ever seen it out here. Even the back roads are at a standstill. What accounts for this? Is there more money around, thus more Hamptonites, or less, thus fewer overseas vacations? Damned if I know, but damned if I want to leave my porch anymore. If I had a putting green, I might not. But then again, if I did, I wouldn’t have Bill Clinton lounging on my chaise or Carl Bernstein schvitzing as he ran bases. Maybe that would be a good thing, but nevertheless, I trekked to Herrick Park in Easthampton for the 65th Annual Artists vs. Writers Softball Game. I actually tried to sign up. Unfortunately, they are long ‘writers’, and my very part-time avocation didn’t sway them. Had I a paintbrush, things might’ve been different. Apparently, since Jackson Pollack and Willem deKooning started this tradition with their pick up games, the artist’s team has thinned. Skywriters and auto body painters were recruited as ‘artists’ along side John Alexander and Eric Fischl. But this year, filmmaker Jamie Patricoff (son of Alan), won MVP and swung the pendulum back to the artists, 8-6. Ray Kelly and Matt Lauer umped, Lori Singer wore the uniform best, a ‘sit down’ with Mort Zuckerman was auctioned off (maybe to a single lady?), Ken Auletta managed his team, including his stalwart, Jay McInerney, and everyone left, a little dusty, some a little defeated, but happy they raised over $100,000 for several worthwhile East End organizations." (NYSocialDiary)



"Move over, Samantha Ronson! Here comes Mad Marj, a.k.a. Marjorie Gubelmann, Palm Beach adding-machine heiress, best-dressed-list favorite, Vie Luxe candles founder, and—much to the shock of her fellow Park Avenue mothers—Downtown’s newest vinyl-spinning sensation. “The truth is, I was D.J.-ing on my college radio station in 1987,” Gubelmann reveals, 'and I was called Mad Marj.' Flash-forward to 2011, when editor Mickey Boardman had Gubelmann D.J. a Paper-magazine party for fun, and she realized 'I hadn’t been that happy in years.' After six months of study at the Scratch DJ Academy in NoHo to catch up with the latest techniques, she was ready for her first paying job: designer Chris Benz’s Fashion Week after-party at the Standard in the East Village. Since then she’s D.J.’d for an Obama fund-raiser in an East Village bar, at a few corporate events, and at regular parties in the Tribeca Grand’s basement, where hundreds of models, stylists, actors, and artists, as well as pals such as Tory Burch and Renee Rockefeller, never stop dancing." (VanityFair)

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