Villaraigosa

Mayor explains Sheen photo in Mexico, zings the media

sheen-mavillaraigosa.jpgThis morning on NBC 4's News Conference, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told host Conan Nolan that the backstory on that photo of him with actor Charlie Sheen in Baja California was very simple. The mayor says that he was in Cabo San Lucas on vacation, he bumped into Sheen in the hotel where the actor was opening a new bar, and that Sheen asked to take a photo. "I'm in the picture taking business," Villaraigosa said. "I've never said no to anyone that wants to take a picture...I was on vacation. I deserve a vacation from time to time."

Nolan pressed Villaraigosa on his recent treatment in the Los Angeles media, which tends to portray the mayor as less of a star than the national media. The mayor said these days he just expects the media to focus more on the personal than the substantive, and he mentioned only the LA Times. "The fact is we live in a world where people quote TMZ," Villaraigosa says in the embedded video from the show.

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.



More by Kevin Roderick:
'In on merit' at USC
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Google taking over LA's deadest shopping mall
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Recent Villaraigosa stories on LA Observed:
LA Observed Notes: Bourdain's LA, Villaraigosa fades to black
Villaraigosa marries in weekend ceremony in Mexico
DNC: Garcetti and Villaraigosa to speak
Villaraigosa acting more like a candidate
Villaraigosa to host Clinton funder in Beachwood Canyon home
Friday news and notes: Police, politics, water and more
Villaraigosa buys in Beachwood Canyon for $2.5 million
Villaraigosa opts out of Senate race -- and now it gets interesting