Heath Ledger Would Have Found Fox News Comments Funny, Friend SaysTalk of Heath Ledger’s death continues to dominate the Sundance festival in Utah. “It was a terrible place to get this news,” actor Brady Corbet, in Park City to promote Funny Games, told us yesterday. “It was supposed to be a time for celebration, and now this town is just abuzz.” Corbet, who was friendly with Ledger, says he’s been disturbed by the tone of some of the gossip, particularly John Gibson’s comments on his Fox radio show. “All this Fox News shit, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It’s so shocking and totally unacceptable. The guy John Gibson should just be fucking shot.” Er…right. Let’s move off that thought. “The only thing that’s charming about it,” Corbet continued, “is that I know Heath would have gotten such a kick out of it. ‘Oh, you played a gay cowboy so you were condemned to death.’ I really think that Heath would have thought that was funny. He would love how it makes them look and how it sheds some light on how disgusting a corporation Fox is.” —Steve Ramos
company town
William Kristol Has the Gray Lady’s Knickers in a TwistMEDIA
• Both Times public editor Clark Hoyt and former Times conservative standby William Safire have panned Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger’s decision to foist William Kristol on the editorial page. Among the other conservatives considered and passed over: Charles Krauthammer, Ross Douthat, Max Boot, and a bunch of other Weekly Standard stalwarts. But at least Judith Miller approves: “[I]t’s an appointment that’s a long time coming. The page needed balance.… [But] an unabashed neocon without remorse is unacceptable to Times people.… He’s not kosher in that sense.” [New Republic]
• New York Observer president Robert Sommer nailed his MSNBC interview: “We like to view our readers as some of the smartest, most insensitive — most… Some of the most brightest readers in the country and especially New York.” [NYO]
• David Blum goes through his fifth sex columnist in little more than a year, firing his latest hire at the New York Press after she stole questions from Dan Savage. Some might call that slutty! [NYO]
intel
Ally Hilfiger on the ‘New Generation of Creative People’When last we checked in with Ally Hilfiger, daughter of Tommy and appealing teenage star of 2003’s Simple Life precursor Rich Girls, she was living a bohemian life between her Manhattan apartment and Berlin and working on a series of paintings featuring the number 8. “It’s a lucky number for me,” she explained. Tomorrow night, the fruits of her creative period will be on display at the Chelsea Art Museum, as part of a multimedia installation she collaborated on with her friend and painting partner Izzie Gold, otherwise known as Francesco Chivetta, a 26-year-old D.J. and multimedia artist who describes his work as “Warhol-esque Lichtenstein with a slight case of Basquiat.”
The other day we spoke to them about the show over the phone. Ally was sick. “I sound like a dead cow,” she said. “My throat is going to fall out of my ass.”