Revenge in Print: Page Six Attack Shocks Readers

Oct. 18, 2007 — -- If the pen is mightier than the sword, then an item in Page Six must cause a lot of pain.

The New York Post's notorious gossip column shocked its legion of in-the-know readers Tuesday morning with a vicious attack on writer Vanessa Grigoriadis.

Retaliating for the scribe's description of an "emasculated" Page Six in a New York magazine cover story, the column item seemed to imply a desire to sexually assault the "hirsute hack."

Headlined "Emasculated? We'll See," the item's finale lashed out. "Grigoriadis ignores the fact that half the Page Six staff is female. The male half might take her someplace private and disprove her theory but we don't like a woman with a mustache."

Plenty of the city's media insiders spilled their lattes when they read the item, shocked at the offensiveness of the attack.

"I was flabbergasted," said Neal Ungerleider, the editor of MediaBistro's FishbowlNY column. "I never expected to see a sexual assault joke in the Post. I think it was something that should have been considered before it was printed in the paper. … Pretty much everyone I've spoken to has been shocked by it, including New York Post employees."

The column's editor, Richard Johnson, was dubbed Tuesday's "World's Worst Person" by MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, who said, "If you're looking for journalism, responsibility, good writing or facts, you already know not to consult Page Six, but for a columnist to write what can only be read as threatening a woman with gang rape would seem to be too much for even [New York Post owner] Rupert Murdoch."

Of course Olbermann might have his own ax to grind considering that he has been the subject of some embarrassing Page Six items detailing a woman's disappointment at her alleged one-night stand with him.

The column and Johnson are known for picking fights. Among their targets: Alec Baldwin (who was dubbed "The Bloviator"), Mickey Rourke (whom Johnson challenged to a fistfight) and talent agent Ed Limato (who has been relentlessly skewered since he threw a martini in Johnson's face at an Oscar party in 2003).

"Everyone knows you can't cross Richard without retribution, but this one went a little too far for some of us," said one longtime media insider in the city.

Some observers speculated that it was a way for the column to intimidate anyone who even insinuated that Page Six had lost its preeminence in a digital era in which the newspaper column competes with up-to-the-minute gossip blogs. The column has been bulking up in recent months, launching a weekly magazine insert and hiring staffers in New York and Los Angeles for its Web site.

Reading the Grigoriadis item brought back bad memories for Jessica Coen, the former co-editor of Gawker.com who had poked fun at the column in her posts and was soon targeted for revenge.

In a 2005 item headlined "Gawk at This" alongside an unattractive picture of Coen, the column dubbed her "snarkiness incarnate" and warned her, "Next time you see us at a party, keep walking — or slithering. You can't be a bootlicker and a back stabber at the same time."

Coen remembers being surprised at the personal nature of the attack. "I don't pretend that Gawker is the most mature publication out there but coming from Page Six, please. But at least they didn't threaten to rape me."

Coen says she was horrified to read the item about Grigoriadis. "I couldn't believe that it actually ran. It was not called for."

Asked to comment, Johnson told ABC News, "Get a life," and declined to answer questions.

Grigoriadis, reached on story assignment in Idaho, declined comment. She had previously told Jezebel.com, "It's funny when men point out what's wrong with your body and you realize you haven't worried about that since junior high school."

On her own Web site, Grigoriadis made light of the item's description of her looks. "Moustache? But just three years ago…" she wrote before reposting a Post article co-written by Johnson, which included her among New York's most eligible bachelorettes. In the piece, she was praised as a "petite treat" with "girlish charm" although noting that she's "just a tad schizo."