Though notorious for my lousy memory, anyone who’s ever shared this experience will understand why I’ll never forget my first phone call with Andrew Breitbart. It’s hard to believe almost three years have passed so quickly, but I do remember the conversation like it was yesterday. At the time I was trying to squeak out a living at a website of my own that was pretty much devoted to my vision-less complaining about the terrible effect left-wing politics was having on my beloved motion picture industry. On a good day, I maybe got 5,000 hits but things were so financially dire that something had to give — and by “something had to give,” I mean, “I was a month away from going back to bill collecting.”

Then the email came: Please call me. *phone number* –Andrew Breitbart.

I knew of Andrew and had only met him very briefly once before but that day we talked for over two hours and if I were smarter, anything close to charismatic, and capable of being a visionary, it would’ve been like talking to myself. By that time I had already been trying to sound the alarm about what was happening in Hollywood for nearly three years. Certainly there were people who appreciated it, but 5,000 hits a day does not a movement make. But here was this guy on the other end of the phone speaking about it with more passion and insight than I had ever heard before: This is about America. This is about a blacklist. This is about a diversity of opinion at the pop culture table. This is about my kids. This is about truth, justice, and the American way. Out of anyone else’s mouth this would’ve sounded corny as hell, but from Andrew it sounded like The Ramones had entered the building.

So there was that, and then there was the vision. A media empire of BIG sites. Over ten of them: Big Government, Big Journalism, Big Peace, Big Education, Big Israel, and my personal favorite, Big Soros. But it would have to start with Big Hollywood, he said, because nothing was more important than the culture. If you couldn’t win a seat at the table of pop culture, the others won’t matter. Everything is downstream from Hollywood — and not just politics. Hollywood shapes our children, our country, and most importantly, it shapes how the world sees our country. Unless we gain a foothold on that beach, the rest of the invasion will fail.

(more…)

It’s important to be honest with yourself – even when it turns out you were wrong. As it turns out, I was apparently wrong about Michael Jackson and I just wish that the rest of the people in Hollywood who keep talking about how wonderful he was would take a moment to consider that maybe they’re wrong, too.

On the eve of Michael Jackson’s death, I penned a column for FOX News in Michael Jackson’s defense arguing that he should be remembered for all his charitable accomplishments as opposed to the unproved accusations against him.

“Sure, Jackson was prosecuted twice, and although this reporter can’t acquit him of any charges, he was never convicted of a single crime,” I wrote. “He certainly didn’t deserve the tabloid innuendos that only fueled a toxic fire that was burning his reputation to a cinder in the court of public opinion.”

I stand by that statement, but there’s a difference between tabloid innuendos and facts, and to my surprise it turns out that although the most damning evidence against Jackson is indisputable, Hollywood and the media have paid little attention to it. (more…)

Michael Jackson’s shtick was simply a more sophisticated, well financed variation on the molester with an ice cream truck. When after paying millions to his young accuser, Jordy Chandler, Jackson was later found to have gay porn producer Marc Schaffel, an un-indicted co-conspirator in Jackson’s 2005 child molestation trial, as his PERSONAL VIDEOGRAPHER and close pal on the very private grounds of Neverland Ranch.

Michael Jackson (left) and Marc Schaffel (right) seen in photo with Warren Beatty (center)

When this scandal was exposed (but underplayed by the dysfunctional and enabling mainstream media), Schaffel was shown the door and Jackson’s people issued a press release acknowledging the impropriety of the situation but claimed not to have known of Schaffel’s mystifyingly inappropriate background — especially given the accusations against Jackson and his continued desire to present himself as a kid-at-heart.

Here is the statement by Jackson spokesman Dan Klores in July, 2002:

“The minute Michael and his advisers found out about Schaffel’s background, they cut the cord immediately. This was months ago. (Schaffel) has nothing to do with Michael Jackson, doesn’t represent him in any way, shape or form, and has been told this repeatedly by Michael’s attorneys.” (more…)