While chatting with HBO documentaries honcho Sheila Nevins at a luncheon celebrating the network’s Gloria Steinem documentary on Wednesday, we casually inquired what she ever did with the American flag that filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi gave her. (We knew about it because Pelosi bought the flag while shopping with Intel Chris last month.)
Nevins said she did, indeed, receive the flag, which is about nine-feet tall. She hung it on her office door. “I salute it every morning,” she said, laughing. “I do! It’s kind of become a joke,” she added. “It shouldn’t be a joke, but it’s become sort of a joke, and when people walk in they say, ‘Hail to the Chief,’ which isn’t accurate, but I’m willing to take it.” Nevins was quick to point out that this greeting from her acolytes is not accompanied by music.
It seems Pelosi makes a habit of giving interesting gifts. After doing an HBO documentary about the Christian right, Nevins says that Pelosi presented her with a bible that was so heavy, she opened it to the book of Job and left it there on her desk. “Of course, I dropped it on my toe, but that’s another story,” Nevins said. “That’s why I opened it to Job, I thought he was telling me something.”
