John Skipper Reveals . . .

Yeah big guy you're right. It will be on my blog, look for it.

 

How about the Hollywood Reporter interview? Didn't scream A1?

 

Do you see that there's a difference between "I'm not sure I buy this story" and "I'll bet it's hookers"? I'm asking sincerely. I think there's a big difference. But maybe I'm in the minority.

 

I sincerely see the difference. But I also sincerely ask if people really think the guy resigned because he was about to be extorted by a coke dealer?

 

I think asking the question is totally fine. I think providing an unsubstantiated answer is not okay.

I mean, both of those sentiments can co-exist and conform with the basic principles of journalism, as far as I understand them. I know the business is in the toilet and there are a lot of former journalists here, as well as people who were never journalists, but I still like to think this place can rise above the baselessness and idiocy of most of the rest of the Internet.

I am also hopelessly earnest and possibly naive. I get that, too.

 

I'm not talking about Skipper and sympathy.

I'm asking, why does Disney need this to be about cocaine, rather than something else?

PS - Weinstein went to rehab. First move he made once he was found out.

 

Who said Disney needed it to be about cocaine?

 

I'd like to rise above the baselessness and idiocy, even though I am no longer in the business. I have friends who still are in the business and I don't want them
to be in the toilet. I have friends who worked with/under this guy. I have no axe to grind, don't really give a shit about Skipper either way. I am saying what I was
told by people who worked with him. I guess I'm not rising above the baselessness, but from what I've heard it's very difficult to believe the guy resigned only because
he had a coke problem.

 

I did.

And Clay Travis - for one - presumes it's really somehow about sexual harassment or impropriety.

So I'm asking wtf benefit there is to Disney that its ESPN president steps down for a drug habit rather than for putting his hand on an intern's sweater.

 

I have no idea. As I said before I think it would be less embarrassing to Skipper's wife if everyone thought he resigned because he had a coke problem.
Maybe others disagree, but I would think it would be just a little bit more embarrassing to his wife if he was caught with hookers or escorts. Didn't realize
you were asking only about what benefit it would be to Disney.

 

That might very well be, and I think it's a fair question to ask. He's a major figure in the industry who left his high-profile position suddenly and under a cloud. My complaint is really with the "must be hookers" talk. That strikes me as baseless and dumb.

And again, I don't know John at all. Have never met and never spoken. I'm not just reflexively defending a friend here. I have no idea the truth of his departure. I tend to agree with @Azrael that "extorted by a coke dealer" seems worse than a lot of the other possibilities. That would be a hell of a lie to tell about yourself. But whether it's true or not, I don't have the faintest.

 

You know what I think is a good parallel here? Deadspin's Manti Te'o story. As soon as they drifted from the facts to being "80 percent sure" that he was in on the scam, it veered totally into Shit City. "ZOINKS HOOKERS" is this thread's equivalent of that.