Jewish World Review Nov. 5, 2003 / 10 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764

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Consumer Reports


Will Harvey Weinstein and Gregg Easterbrook now be pals?; crazed Quentin; more


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | NEW YORK — Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein has forgiven Gregg Easterbrook.

But Disney chairman Michael Eisner hasn't replied to the New Republic writer's pained personal apology for calling them — in a recent negative review of Miramax's "Kill Bill" — "Jewish executives (who) worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence."

After receiving the letter from the Presbyterian pundit, Weinstein wrote back: "Bringing up my Jewishness . . . is obviously wrong. I would never say a 'Christian writer' is lacking in knowledge and is only out to provoke controversy by calling our faith into question." But Weinstein added: "I wholeheartedly accept your apology; your letter shows you learned from this experience, and despite all this I would choose to defend you in the future."

After Easterbrook's remark on the New Republic's Web site sparked a firestorm of criticism (and he lost his job as an online football commentator for ESPN), his initial attempts to extricate himself didn't help matters. He acknowledged guilt for "mangling words" but insisted he was "ready to defend all the thoughts" he'd expressed. Charges of anti-Semitism flew. The Anti-Defamation League pronounced Easterbrook's backpedaling "insufficient."

Then, late last month, a chastened Easterbrook wrote separately to Weinstein and Eisner: "I wish to apologize to you both for what I said, and for the manner (in which) it was said . . . It is not fair to raise faith or identity. Worse, to fall into stereotype not only is wrong to the person, it may be wrong in a larger sense for society, by feeding stereotypes."

Weinstein noted in his reply: "As Claude Rains said to Bogart (in a film I'm sure you liked, made by a Jewish executive) this could be the start of a beautiful relationship. All my best. Harvey."

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Actually, it was Bogart who said something sort of like it to Rains, Harvey. But we — and all men and women of good will — get the idea.

THE BRIEFING

CRAZED QUENTIN: Nutty auteur Quentin Tarantino needs to chill after his bizarre Halloween night behavior, which included trying to break up a fight at one nightspot and almost getting into a fight at another. Wearing a hockey jersey reading "Tigger," Tarantino spotted two combatants swinging fists at the Park in Chelsea and attempted to enter the fray, requiring his bodyguards to restrain him. "But I always need to see the challenger!" Tarantino yelled, inexplicably, and then settled into a roped-off area where brazen and possibly myopic females tried to crawl between the couches to reach him. Hours later, Tarantino arrived at Hue, where he provoked a group of partying Brits by shouting: "The hell with soccer! It's all about hockey!" Some of the angry soccer fans shouted back insults but no violence ensued, and Tarantino calmed down after receiving the soothing attentions of the girls in the back room. He finally departed at 5 a.m., explaining that he had to get ready for his imminent departure for Tuesday's "Kill Bill" premiere in Paris.

BEST SUPPORTING BROTHER: Gwyneth Paltrow is telling pals that she was so depressed by the death of father Bruce Paltrow a year ago, she almost passed on playing suicidal poet Sylvia Plath in the upcoming biopic "Sylvia." But her little brother, Jake, 28, persuaded the 31-year-old actress to take the part. "I didn't know if I'd be able to do the film, but my brother was insistent that I do it," Paltrow told friends in London last week. "My father died two weeks before I started shooting, which was the worst thing that ever happened to me." According to Gwyneth, who was "feeling like a zombie," Jake couldn't stand seeing his big sis so upset and thought she should do the part to keep her occupied.

WINDOW SHOPPING?: Geraldo Rivera's ex-wife, C.C. Dyer, has been looking around for a place in the posh Carnegie Hill neighborhood to set up housekeeping with her boyfriend, saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band. Corcoran Group broker Wendy Sarasohn, a college friend of Dyer's, showed her a property that's even bigger than the townhouse Geraldo gave her as part of their divorce settlement. But Dyer tells me she's not buying so far. "I'm very happy where I am right now."



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Up

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11/03/03: Dean's tell-all on himself?; Lisaraye vs. Mya?; the odd couple; no need to panic; just don't call him "Scooter"!; Rosie scenarios
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10/28/03: It's Cher calling!; Brown Alert
10/27/03: Paparazzi uncensored!; where's Aaron Brown?; postcards from the middle; invasion of the party snatchers?; House flooded when not afire?; suspenders of disbelief?
10/23/03: Ace up Howard Dean's sleeve; Woody's ordeal; Paul Simon's kid makes good; the non-beginning of a beautiful friendship?
10/22/03: Showing the flag; Joe Frazier, smokin'!; see Carville bruised-up — sort of
10/21/03: Morris & Jaci's charm offensive; Hell hath no fury; Wintertime for Hitler
10/20/03: Isn't it rich?; men (and the occasional woman) behaving badly; peacenik John Lennon supporting the U.S. military?; courageous Connie
10/16/03: George Clooney and intolerable Drudgery; Cameron goes native; and you thought the war in Iraq was nasty?; now it can be revealed; star wars?
10/15/03: Kerik into the breach?; holiday pander?; "the Dink" corrects the record; more
10/14/03: Madge gets mad, lips are sealed; the candidates who listen; he who hesitates is Beatty
10/13/03: Clothes, but no cigar; New Yorkers put a Sox in it; mad at Matalin?; more
10/09/03: Gray Davis goes to the movies; Ali Wentworth, working blue; Law & Order?; pot of gold at the end of the rainbow room?
10/08/03: Art-time for Hitler; the actress who hates movies; lying "Liam"
10/07/03: Pond scum of the rich and famous
07/24/03: Ali and George, living it up; Mel Gibson's Washington power play
07/21/03: White House smear?
07/17/03: Yet another intern scandal; it's her party and she can pay if she wants to
07/14/03: On the auction block: JFK'S boxer shorts; love bytes the maestro
07/10/03: A hairy situation at Homeland Security; Van Susteren v. Orth
06/30/03: Rep. Patrick Kennedy: I've never worked a (bleeping) day in my life; Drudge's dressing down; Ken Lay's Kerry connection
06/26/03: Rapping the beat
06/23/03: Another Watergate scandal?; AL GORE TV!
06/19/03: Tony Snow, rocker?; that won't be crow on Mr. Carlson's plate
06/16/03: Missing dog, ransom demand, Hollywood ending
06/12/03: Giving both parties the needle
06/09/03: WHAT DID SHE KNOW, AND WHEN DID SHE KNOW IT?
06/05/03: Incoming from Barbara Bush?
06/02/03: Bob Dole's plan for fighting unemployment
05/29/03: Newt's new novel
05/27/03: Hitchens & Blumenthal, together again; He still believes in a man called Hope
05/09/03: Close, but no cigar; Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending?; Geraldo to help Heebs?
05/05/03: So Bill Gates and Tom Brokaw walk into a coffee bar . . .; hotel hell; more

© 2003, Creators Syndicate