Checking in with George Christy

George Christy is the defrocked Hollywood Reporter columnist who left the trade paper after colleague Dave Robb investigated -- and tried to report -- that Christy was way too friendly with some producers and got SAG benefits for movies he apparently didn't appear in. This was the blowup in 2001 that led, at least in part, to Robb quitting the Reporter, along with editor Anita Busch and another editor, Beth Laski. Now Richard Horgan reports in his weekly FilmStew column that Christy remains on the Hollywood gravy train.

While his two main accusers, journalists David Robb and Anita Busch, have faded into relative obscurity, 76-year-old Greek-born society columnist George Christy has managed to rebound quite nicely from a professional ethics scandal that erupted in Hollywood in the spring of 2001.

Just one quote in the story is from Christy. The rest of the interview was off the record, Horgan writes.

10:28 AM Thursday, September 4 2003 • Link
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Interestingly, an AP story came out yesterday as well (09/03), quoting various 60 Minutes correspondents (Morley Safer, Leslie Stahl, Steve Kroft) about how even that esteemed program is having to accept dictated terms and conditions in order to get the prize of an exclusive celebrity interview. Kroft: "It's made doing these interviews a little more distasteful for all of us. It's turned us all into shills."


Meanwhile, elsewhere in Manhattan, a number of older generation "name" newspaper gossip columnists present an objective front but many will tell you that, behind the scenes, they are in fact in full cahoots with publicists and celebrities in order to gain regular access to quotes and scoops. Ultimately, maybe Christy's sin was not the fact that he bent the rules of engagement, but rather that he got caught (?).

Posted by: Brian at September 4, 2003 09:34 PM

Uh, Brian, I think Christy's sin was taking money and undeserved benefits from the very same people he was supposed to be covering objectively. The "dictated terms" that 60 Minutes and others cave to are things like agreeing that certain topics are off limits or giving a celeb the right to edit a cover shot, etc. Neither one is something to be proud of but Christy crossed some lines that the other's haven't.

Posted by: Mr. Ricey at September 7, 2003 09:20 PM

Mr. Ricey, fair enough. I was trying to relate Christy's apparent transgressions to the overall sliding ethics of today's tabloidized entertainment journalism field, but maybe drew the circle a little too wide :-).


Perhaps the Hollywood Reporter should hire Jayson Blair as their new society columnist. After all, what better way to tap the insecurities of Tinseltown than to comment on parties without actually attending them?

Posted by: Brian at September 8, 2003 09:51 AM
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