Nikki Finke Responds To My Quasi-Scathing Smackdown

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily and L.A. Weekly fame took my criticism of her proposal that we at The Hollywood Reporter should go soft and turn into inveterate industry suck-ups surprisingly well. A little too well, if you ask me. Leaves me suspicious she may be up to something. But what? I mean, she didn't phone any of my superiors or request the post be taken down. She even invited me to publish her reply -- and clued me in that she doesn't really have much of a daytime bathrobe collection. And so, I'm sharing her e-mail for all the Web to see. Check...and mate!

Here it is:

"I'm genuinely glad you're sticking up for THR... C'mon, you've gotta agree that 'death rattle' was a great line, but I hate it when journalists are out of work so I by no means want to see THR go under. Therefore, I love your spirit and embrace your criticism, which was on point and professional. (Only when attacks get viciously personal or hopelessly erroneous that I object. My work is always fair game.)

"FYI, I put quotes around 'big name' because those words came from the source who told me about it. Funny, I thought my quasi-serious (near Swift-ian) proposal of hiring an ex-Hollywood mogul as THR editor was more a dig at Variety given Peter Bart's background, but you didn't get the joke. My bad. You're right that I made a dig at the trades' brand of journalism, but I've been consistent on that point: I just have read too many stories that perpetuate showbiz spin and lies in both THR and Variety.

"I love how you wrote some great sucking-up examples, Ray -- they really made me laugh! (You can fall back onto a career at PMK.)"

                                                                          Nikki

Comments

[Jennifer]

Ray, aren't you getting a little paranoid? Nikki looks harmless enough.
However, just in case you turn up missing in the next few days-why don't you leave your personal information with your good buddies Jerry Bruckheimer and Sherry Lansing so they can come looking for you. Perhaps they are powerful enough to take on the ruthless Ms. Finke.