July 3, 2002
REPLACING JULIA PHILLIPS :
Ovitz Lashes Out at Hollywood (Variety, 7/02/02)Was it an interview or a psychotic episode?Industryites are still trying to come up with an apt description for the public self-immolation of onetime Hollywood titan Michael Ovitz.
In a stunning profile in Vanity Fair's August issue, which hits newsstands Wednesday, the dethroned boss of Artists Management Group adds to his considerable woes by, among other things, accusing Hollywood's "gay mafia" of ruining his business and his reputation. [...]
Ovitz's statements about a "gay mafia" left even the battle-hardened players named in the piece speechless.
"You're not serious," Vivendi Universal Entertainment CEO Barry Diller told Burrough. "Wow. He said that on the record? Wow ... Wow. I'm stunned. I'm stunned."
During Watergate that was called a "non-denial denial".
UPDATE :
Gerard Vanderleun, of American Digest, has gotten ahold of the secret transcript of "Ovitz's 'apology meeting' with the movers and shakers of Dreamworks, Disney, and other essential players." It's very funny, though not appropriate for all ages.