In case you’re wondering why I never, ever take cries about “anti-semitism” at face value, this expose about the behind-the-scenes editorial action at Vanity Fair may help explain why:
One aspect of the story seemed like it would be the most delicious candy to Vanity Fair in that era: Bloom, expecting to make a life-altering killing on the stock, had built a multimillion-dollar house near Sun Valley, Idaho. I put in the God-is-in-the-details goodies: I remember there was a jacuzzi room graced with a large Buddha’s head. But things had gone south so fast with Planet Hollywood that Bloom was forced to put the house on the market before he really got to enjoy it. Not only was it a matter of public record, it was a perfect metaphor for hubris and thwarted ambition.
But Bloom told me that I absolutely could not mention the house — not because the anecdote was embarrassing but because, he said, there were armed anti-Semites in the area where he had chosen to build who might attack him. Bloom didn’t explain why he would want to spend time and money in an area where he thought his life was at risk, or why he thought the local killers would know nothing about a house valued — if memory serves — at $15 million until they … read about it in Vanity Fair.
The more he demanded that I omit any mention of the house, the more determined I was to include it. Then I got a call from a Graydon underling. There was a problem fitting in the piece, she said, and the one thing that needed to be cut was the house. I said I could easily suggest other parts of this overly long story that could be trimmed but no, it had to be the house.
Was including the house important in the grand scheme of things? Maybe not. But I felt that I was being sold out. I was confident that kind of information would not have been cut for anyone other than a Graydon friend. In the end, Bloom didn’t look great in the piece, but at least he got to sell his house without embarrassment.
On the one hand, you really can’t blame anyone for making use of a tactic that has reliably worked proved effective over the years, however dishonestly it is utilized. On the other, you absolutely can and should blame the morons who are dumb enough to continue falling for that tactic, over and over again, for a period of decades.
And like the author, I too very much doubt Mr. Carter’s explanation for why he scrubbed the Epstein article.