Keith J. Kelly, New York Post media columnist: “The Times interview damaged him at his own paper, is what I’ve heard. If you break a lot of news, you become a personality, but you’re not a personality just by showing up. We’ve seen many a gossip columnist fall on that foil. A. J. Benza is the prime example.”

Choire Sicha, editor, Gawker.com: “Mr. Grove has spent so much time in our nation’s capital, I’m sure it’ll take him a while to get socialized to human interaction.”

Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media columnist: “If Lloyd can work the Apple the way he did the Beltway, he’ll wind up with half the town hating him. Who else is self-promotional enough to score a front-page piece in the Times before he even starts work?”

Mitchell Fink, former Daily News gossip: “If he breaks big stories, he’ll be fine. But if he’s going to write lead items about Billy Bush and farting, then I’m afraid he’s in for a very long season.”

Joyce Wadler, New York Times: “Oy! My first thought was, Man, I bet Rush and Molloy are going to be sleeping like babies tonight. I mean, did somebody tell him, ‘Well, in New York, what you really want to do is lead with a fart gag’? Will he last? Under Mort? Does anyone?”

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer Features”
• Articles by Jada Yuan
• Table of Contents: Oct 13, 2003 issue of New York | Subscribe!