Sam Zell tells Orlando Sentinel photog: F%#k you.

He's apologizing today for saying it. Nutty uncle! Undercoating! Iraq! Puppies! Fuck you!

 

Now, now. You're gonna wish you had spent the 1,500 on the undercoating when the salt eats away your engine.

 

The photog who asked the question allegedly turned her back on him while he was answering.
So I, too, say fuck her! Don't turn your back on your daddy!

 

The truth about the "Fuck you" quote: BEFORE he said fuck you into the microphone, she turned her back to him and said "Fuck you" first!

 

I have no idea whether this is true, but even if it is, someone else being unprofessional doesn't mean you should be -- especially if you're "The Man" and you have the microphone.

 

Someone needs to set up a poll, seeking guesses for how much longer said photographer will be employed by Zell Industries.

I think she'll quit. If she really told Zell to fuck off, even under her breath, she must be at the point emotionally where the job doesn't mean much to her.

Doubt she'll get fired. Would risk too much bad pub as a crazed, sexist billionaire.

 

If I were Zell and she really said that to me first. I'd make Orlando do a pet of the day feature and make sure she was the one who took the picture of the puppy/kitty/goldfish every single day.

 

True Okie, but I'm just adding context to the situation.

 

I appreciate the added context. My comment wasn't directed at you as much as directed at Zell.

 

First time posting ...
Never felt the need to answer or post before but I was moved to add to this thread ... specifically mike311gd for two main reasons:
One, because he exemplifies a problem with mediums like this, and why I don't bother with them, and that is: HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE *@$#$% HE'S TALKING ABOUT!
Two, because maybe it provides a slim ray of hope to our honorable yet beaten up profession, and I'll tell try and tell you why ...
First, I'm a Trib employee, newspapers, a bigger paper ... been in the business for 25 years ... Zell came to our company, met with everyone.
Let me try to set the record straight on a couple things ...
1. Saying he looks like walking death; drunk uncle - DEAD ON!
2. A statement like the one mike311gd made - "Haven't heard a good thing from Trib people about Zell" total bullshit.
Hey Mike, how many of our company do you know - one, two, maybe none?
Let me tell you a little about Zell. Crusty like you read about. Dropped at least 12 F-bombs during his thing with us. Does that make him the savior of our business? Should you be impressed by that? No way, not yet anyway, time well tell on that one.
Was he a breath of fresh air? Let's put it this way ... as employees left the auditorium there was a sense, a feeling, I haven't felt in a long time. A looooong time. A feeling that MAYBE things could be fixed. Now, I'm a realist ... in one year could I, and many thousands like me, be wishing to get our hands on Zell for just 30 seconds? You bet. But for now ...
Working for Trib, you used to get a budget from Chicago, a budget you have to hit. Any of you at the big chains know the drill. Don't hit it, as the line in Goodfellas goes, "Fuck you, pay me!" Working for Trib you saw everything that was killing our business: Top-down management; Bottom-line bean counters. It is my sincere hope that Dennis Fitzsimmons, our beloved former chairman, who left with more than $32 million, chokes very soon on something.
Zell's opening statement was this, verbatim, "How the FUCK can some bean counter sitting in Tribune Tower tell the [name of Trib proprerty here] what they need?"
Lemme tell you, got people's attention. Got people thinking maybe we have a chance. Maybe some maverick from Chicago, a guy with NOOOOO newspaper experience, could see a way to get us out of this tailspin. For those of you idiots sitting there rolling your eyes and railing, "What does this %$*^*& know about journalism?" Think about this, have you picked a presidential candidate to support? Me too. Anyone who criticizes my choice, I have one reply and one only: can he or she be ANY worse than what we got?
Apply that to operating a newspaper. Can this maverick, or another like him, possibly do any worse? We're living with the choices that LIFELONG newspaper people have made ... choices that have put friends we all know out of work; fucked up their families. If pictures of puppies help save this honorable profession, moves it into the future, grab a seat Rover and smile ...
I've rambled long enough. Zell closed his presentation with us with two stories that I'll share:
1. The day after the sale closed, he got a call from the head of Tribune corporate HR. She wanted to make an appointment with Zell to give him the history of the Tribune Company. He replyed, so he said, "Lady, I'm trying to erase Tribune history."
OK, maybe that's funny, maybe not ... but the next one was dead on serious:
2. In the days after the sale closed [and this story's out there if you don't want to take Zell's word] he said he got a call from Donald Graham, Washington Post chairman of the board. Graham, lifelong newspaper family, told Zell that the entire industry was watching him - closely - rooting for him. For if he failed, then it likely meant a greater and tragic failure for all of us.
So, mike311gd, root for Zell ... for my sake and yours. His type of ththinking, not him necessarily, may just help us find a way ...
Peace,
OP

 

Thanks for checking in Mr. Zell.

 

you know what? If the fotog first said "Fuck you" and turned her back on him, then she was being an asshole, and deserved it.