Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Exclusive: Gay Talese Will Promote “Voyeur” Book, Doesn’t Disavow It, Says WashPo Writer “Distorted Me”

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Gay Talese– contrary to a Washington Post story this morning– does not disavow his new book “The Voyeur’s Motel.”

Talese tells me that the headline should read: “Author  Gay Talese disavows Paul Farhi for distorting how he feels about the book.”  Gay says: “I definitely am going to promote it, beginning this coming week.”

He’s sticking to his booking on The Late Show with Seth Meyers, and will be doing plenty of other appearances.

The legendary 84 year old author and reporter first tipped off “The Voyeur’s Motel” in the New Yorker this winter. He wrote then, and writes in the book– which I’ve read and is quite mesmerizing– that he knew certain things his subject, Gerald Foos, told him did not add up. Talese cautions us that Foos is not always reliable. But he makes a damn good character, nonetheless.

This would matter if Foos had been retelling history. But this is Foos’s private history– a voyeur who owns a motel and witnesses, among other things, a murder. Did he own the motel? Yes. Did he equip it for spying? Yes. That’s all you need to know. Are we listening to some tall tales? Sure. But what did you expect? This isn’t Ulysses S. Grant telling his life story. Foos is a notable low life.

So I’d calm down, WashPo. “The Voyeur’s Motel” is true enough. The writing is impeccable and no one’s been harmed if Foos was good at exaggeration.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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