Harvey Levin

THE NEW KING OF TABLOID JOURNALISM TALKS ABOUT HIS TMZ EMPIRE,

GIVES ADVICE TO BRITNEY, DEFENDS HIS ETHICS AND TELLS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN

IF HE MET ALEC BALDWIN IN A DARK ALLEY

Ql

PLAYBOY: Is Hollywood really as horren­dous as it looks on TMZ7 LEVIN: I don't think you can define Holly­wood by Mel Gibson or the people who go to clubs like the Hyde Lounge. I've never seen Tom Hanks. Helen Mirren or Julia Roberts at Hyde. Hollywood is just a more glamorous version of small-town America. Some people are troublemakers, some aren t. But my mis­sion isn't to make people look obnoxious or gross. The trouble is. certain celebrities cant help themselves. Los Angeles has thousands of restaurants, yet people like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears keep com­ing back to the same spots they know will be swarming with our cameras Why? Trust me. its not because Skyy Vodka tastes bet­ter at Hyde They crave the attention, and we're happy to give it to them.

Q2

PLAYBOY: How has TMZ changed the rules of celebrity journalism7 LEVIN: When we started, two and a half years ago. there was a feeling that nobody except Notional Enquirer covered this mate­rial, and the national media turned up their nose at us. Now you re in trouble if you don't cover it. We play a little game in our office sometimes when we post a big story. We bet

on how soon it will take CNN to flash tmz is reporting... across the bottom of the screen. Often it's a matter of seconds.

Q3

PLAYBOY: What's TMZ's secret for consis­tently getting so much juicy content' LEVIN: Good stories don't come easily. Most of the time a good story is one someone doesn't want you to know. But roadblocks don't stop us. Well call someone else. Also, we don't owe anybody. Much entertainment journalism has been driven by publicists and a fear of retaliation: "If you say something bad about our client, you wont get that interview when the big movie comes out." We don't care about the big celebrity inter­view, so we can say whatever we want with­out fear of being blacklisted Put it this way: The days of treating famous people like wax figures on the red carpet are over

Q4

PLAYBOY: You pay sources for informa­tion, which many news outlets consider a serious breach of journalistic ethics. LEVIN: In certain cases we pay. We paid for the O.|. audio [in which Simpson confronts a sports-memorabilia dealer, leading to his September 2007 arrest on felony robbery

charges]. Newspeople get on their high horse and say they don't pay sources. That's bullshit. What bugs me is network news organizations saying they wont pay for infor­mation. You should see what they really do. They funnel money through their entertain­ment divisions, so it doesn't show up in the news division's budget. It's almost like money laundering. They'll pay for hotels, restaurants, cigars and limos. I've seen them do it.

Q5

PLAYBOY: One of your online gossip rivals. Gawker, calls TMZ "the celebrity website dedicated to the destruction of the West's 5,000-year tradition of literacy and culture." Your reaction7

LEVIN: [Loughs] That's hilarious, first of all, coming from Gawker. But it also gives us way too much credit. We're a diversion for people. We have never claimed to be the front page of The New York Times. But there's value in what we present When a guy like Brandon Davis becomes a celebrity on TMZ for saying Lind­say Lohan has a "firecrotch." that says every­thing about what's wrong with rich, spoiled, overly entitled celebrities. It's ugly, but it's real. We dubbed him Greasy Bear and made him a star. But come on. people1 It's sup­posed to be fun. (continued on page 136)

HARVEY LEVIN

(continued from page 109)

Q6

I'l.wm)Y: Yet TMZ frequently showcases peo­ple in meltdown mode, whether it's Lindsay, Britney, Mel or Michael Richards. Isn't that spotlight doing them more harm? LEVl.v You're not doing anyone a favor by looking away when a celebrity does something wrong. Richards screwed up, and he took the heat for it. That's only fair. What isn't fair is that these people can walk into and out of a res­taurant without even thinking about paying. They're underage and they get served alcohol. They live their life without ever hearing the word no. They should know better.

Q7

PLAYBOY: Is there any story TMZ won't run? levin: We turn down stories all the time. I didn't run the video David Hasselhoff's daughter shot of him diunkenly eating a hamburger, because it was not meant for the public. That was between him and his daughters. I also won't run anything in which someone breaks the law to get the story—for instance, if someone steals a file. I won't run something if people are chased. Our guide in making these decisions is what we call the yuck fac­tor. If it doesn't feel right, we don't do it—even if it would mean getting tons of traffic on the site. We won't show parents with their kids, messy divorce situations, stars at their homes, stars who look like they're being stalked. My business is built

on trust, and the most important wav to maintain that trust is to make people think I won't burn them.

Q8

I'I.ayhoY: What about Alec Baldwin's daughter? TMZ was the source for that brutal phone message of Baldwin call­ing her a pig.

LEVIN: That was a tough one. I struggled with it for days before putting it up. Ulti­mately I decided it was a critical piece of evi­dence in a highly publicized conn case that was not sealed and was part of the public record. But it felt personal, and I asked myself, What would it do to the kid? Baldwin will hate me forever for it, and I understand that. But I'm not here to cause pain. Same with Mel Gibson. When we had that story ready to go, I sat in my office just looking at it. There is literally a button you push to send it out to the world, and I knew the impact this would have on a man's life. I'm telling you I stared at that button lor a couple of minutes even though I knew the story was accurate and he had done wrong. It doesn't give me pleasure to have that kind of impact on someone's personal life. You constantly have to think about what you're doing.

Q9

playboy: If that's true, why do so many celebrities criticize you and your tactics? levin: I fired a cameraman the other day because he chased somebody. I don't want to imperil people. I don't need Prin­cess Diana as an example to know you shouldn't chase people. That's not where I want TMZ to be. As far as being feared, that doesn't make me happy. I'm trying to create a different form of entertainment, but we're certainly not interested in just the thong shot. I'm not sitting around, saying, "Ooh, gel the thong shot!" If I can get Tom Hanks being entertaining, I'll take that over a thong shot any day.

Q10

playboy: Was there one celebrity run-in that sent you down this tabloid path? I.KVIN: .After working in law 1 was an inves­tigative reporter and a legal reporter for a long time. Karly on 1 did a slory on Tony Danza's house in Malibu, and a photogra­pher went up there to shoot him on the beach with his kids. Danza got so mad he chased the guy down the Pacific ()oasl High­way, cut him off, then slugged him and took his camera. As a lawyer, I knew that was highway robbery, literally, but the DA said, "He's a photographer. He didn't have the right to be there." Bui he did have the right, and we did a story called "Celebrity Justice," which led to my TV show of the same name, which eventually rolled into TMZ.

Q11

PLAYBOY: You were also a legal consultant on The People's Court. Any fond memories of Judge Wapner? levin: Well, I've never told this story, but I

will. When 1 started doing that show, I was a 30-year-old asshole. Wapner and I butted heads because I knew everything and he didn't, which was ridiculous. He had been a judge for 20 years. One day the owner of the show took me aside and said, "If I have to choose between Wapner and you, you better believe I'm not gonna choose you." But at the end of season one we had a huge hit on our hands, and at the wrap party a producer pulled out a joint. I don't smoke marijuana; it makes me sick. But 1 took a couple of hits and had a revelauon, which I really believed in at the moment. 1 stood up on a table and screamed, 'judge Wapner is the most important thing to happen to law since Justice Brandeis!" From then on Wapner and I got along great.

Q12

im.aybc)V: What gets you out of bed in the morning?

i.KviN: 1 love the hunt. I love the reporting. We did a story on underage celebrities who drink. We had picture after picture of these 18- and 19-year-olds—at the time, Lind­say Lohan, Jesse McCartney, the Olsen twins—coming into clubs and drinking, and nobody was doing anything about it. We decided to see what the liquor enforce­ment board was doing, and it turned out they were focusing on mom-and-pop liquor shops because they were easy to bust. But they never busted the hot clubs. It was so corrupt, but we got the clubs by showing pictures of Jesse McCartney drinking beer.

Q13

PLAYBOY: Of all the people you cover, Brit­ney Spears gets the most attention by far. What's your advice to her? levin: It's hard to give advice to someone who is mentally unstable. Assuming I got

her in a rational moment, I would tell her to be more cynical about who her friends are, because the poor thing has been used in the most shocking way by so-called friends who have betrayed her—in the money department and mental health depart­ment. They wanted to be seen with her and use her star power to whore for atten­tion in L.A. They took this woman who had a lot of potential to grow up normal and pushed her off the deep end. Then these sleazebags glommed onto her and said, "I'm going to get stuff from her. I'm going to ride in her Mercedes-Benz. She's going to get me attention." The problem was, she craved attention as much as they did. and everything fell apart from there.

Q14

plavboV: What's the deal with all these celebrities showing up in public without panties?

levin: It's bizarre! Doesn't it seem like the most basic thing in the world? You're going out, you're riding in a car or lim­ousine and wearing a short skirt with 50 photographers guaranteed to catch you from every angle, and—bang—you go commando. Of course they know what they're doing. They all know it gets atten­tion. It's so transparent.

Q15

PI.VYBOY: Were you always such a skeptic about rich kids?

lkvin: When 1 was a kid in L.A. I worked at a summer camp where rich kids went. I saw all the things they had and listened to the stories about their vacations, their houses, their staff and (heir tars and thought. God, to have a life like (hat! That would be amaz­ing. But when I got to know them I saw how fucked up they all were.

Q16

playboy Wait, are you saying money doesn't buy happiness? i.kvin: [Laughs] Listen to this: When I was covering the O.J. Simpson trial as a TV news reporter, I was like a circus monkey in Hollywood. People wanted lo have me at parties. I remember one parly in par­ticular I didn't belong at—big. big stars, huge industry people. I would speak and you could hear a pin drop. The first half of the night they grilled me about Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro, but the rest of the night these stars talked about what medications they were tak­ing and whether you can mix Zolotl with vodka. I realized these people have the same issues we all have, but they were dressed in Chanel and Calvin Klein.

Q17

playboy: What's ahead for TMZ? leviv I see huge opportunities in cover­ing politics in a way that would be inter­esting and fun for people. People say you can't make politicians as interesting as Hollywood celebrities, because they're not as good-looking, not as well-known, not as entertaining. I totally disagree. These are some of the most interesting people in the country, and they haven't been covered that way before.

Q18

playboy: You were at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. the night Bobby Kennedy was shot. How did that alfect you? LEVIN: I was, and it had a devastating effect on me. I was a senior in high school and loved Bobby Kennedy. I ran a Stu­dents for Kennedy headquarters out of my bedroom and put my whole life into that campaign. That day at the Ambas­sador was my first taste of grown-up disil­lusionment. I was crying and crying. The violence, the madness—it was shocking.

Q19

playboy: With a site like TMZ you must worry about your own safety. What if you ran into. say. Alec Baldwin in a dark alley behind the Ivy? LEVIN: Would I run? Urn, probably.

Q20

playboy: How would you feel if you were stalked by paparazzi, TMZ-style? l.LViN: It's a fair question. I wouldn't like ii. I like my privacy. That's an issue I deal with all the lime. How would I feel if ibis happened lo me? Is there a huge prob­lem with paparazzi? Yes. Have we made the problem worse? Yes. We've popular­ized it in a way that puts others in busi­ness who do it worse than we do. I can't control that. The only thing I can temper is how we deal with it on our site.

Read the 21st question at f)ln\boy.ci>m/21 (/.