The latest twist in Nipplegate is that CBS chief Les Moonves has been threatening to sue the FCC if it imposes fines against the network because of Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” There’s a backstory here, though, which is that this came from a response to a question posed during the TV press tour last week.
What’s great about Les (we like to call him Les, because we like pretending that even though he’s the co-president of Viacom and we’re just a bunch of ink-stained wretches, we’re pals) is that as a former actor, he realizes that a press conference is basically a performance. So he’s always getting into a big swinging dick contest with someone for our benefit.
Now don’t get me wrong — I like that in a man, especially in network execs at press conferences. I still remember how boring these were when the painfully circumspect Stu Bloomberg and Lloyd Braun were running ABC; you had to practically prop your eyelids open with toothpicks to stay awake. Les Moonves, on the other hand, is usually entertainingly candid. But some of what he says in public to reporters should be taken with a few tablespoons of salt.
At the last press tour (in January) Les got into it with Donald Trump, who’d called him “the most overrated executive in television, and unlike most people, I like Les Moonves” at NBC’s press conference for “The Apprentice.” Les responded at the CBS press conference a few days later that Donald must have been having an unusually bad hair day. So that was fun. (The bad blood backstory here is that Trump used to be partners with CBS in the Miss Universe contest, which then moved to NBC.)
But would Les Moonves really take the FCC to court? I suppose he might. But probably he’s just posturing.
OK, this finishes my guest-blogging stint here and thank you all for reading. I’d also like to thank (as we say here in Hollywood) the lewder, cruder commenters from my own blog for staying away from this much classier one. I’d hate for Eugene to come back from vacation and find the place trashed!
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