Leitch on Ebert

[LongTimeListener]

Here's what I find funny about some of this debate: People are more focused on Leitch the Person, the Poor Apologizer, the Web 2.0 punk, than this actual piece of writing.

No matter what you think of the guy, he is a writer, so he wrote about this personal story in his life that makes him look like an asshole. That's the best kind of writing, y'know, the honest kind. He told me he was wary of putting it out there, but i'm glad he did.

I thought my post implied this, but I'll spell it out: You consider this "the honest kind" of writing. I look at the repeated instances of this kind of behavior from Will, and I guess I just don't find the sentiment very honest. He is taking whatever opportunity he can to re-circulate his name, just as his apology for the Whitlock/How To Be Black brouhaha was well-timed to pimp the book. His chicken**** "Who, me?" act on HBO turns out to be a total preview of who he is, and it's anything but "honest."

And as others (Double Down best of all) have noted, what made the piece compelling was not even his writing.

So I gotta ask: He told you, as in, you the reader? Or as in, he's your buddy and you knew this was coming ahead of time?

 

[Ace]

Ebert linked to Leitch's story from his twitter account, by the way. This is ebert's tweet:

Will Leitch is no longer sick of my fat ****ing face. To which I add, > :) < http://j.mp/95lUGu

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

To answer the question, I don't know leitch but I've emailed with him before and I liked this story so I told him so via email and he responded. Ebert sent an earlier tweet about the story too where he called leitchs story "sweet"

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

I suppose I would feel more outrage if Ebert hadn't needed to apologize via Twitter to Rush Limbaugh in January after making jokes when the fat blowhard radio personality went into the hospital. Or that he referred to Tea Party people as "teabaggers" and then apparently lied in saying he didn't know what the term meant when he used it.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-ebert2-2010mar02,0,4834863.story

Now I am no fan of the far right. But I don't see that Ebert deserves some sort of elder-statesman deification when what he's done is lower himself right down into the muck with Leitch and even worse Internet ranters. I don't see that his intellect, maturity, dignity and sense of responsibility necessarily exceeds that of Will Leitch on some days now.

 

[21]

Frank--Regardless of Ebert's status or crimes against Rush, etc, the fact remains that he was incredibly generous with his time and support and advice when a college kid sought him out, and the kid ultimately responded by publicly attacking him for no reason other than to show that he could.

 

[Double Down]

Suffice to say, the fact that I'm on the same side of this issue as Whitlock is making me wonder if I should examine the other side again.

@WhitlockJason http://bit.ly/9jIc0A Read this & u'll understand y I've always believed Will Leitch is a phony piece of manure. Stu Scott crime came natural

 

[Ace]

I suppose I would feel more outrage if Ebert hadn't needed to apologize via Twitter to Rush Limbaugh in January after making jokes when the fat blowhard radio personality went into the hospital. Or that he referred to Tea Party people as "teabaggers" and then apparently lied in saying he didn't know what the term meant when he used it.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-ebert2-2010mar02,0,4834863.story

Now I am no fan of the far right. But I don't see that Ebert deserves some sort of elder-statesman deification when what he's done is lower himself right down into the muck with Leitch and even worse Internet ranters. I don't see that his intellect, maturity, dignity and sense of responsibility necessarily exceeds that of Will Leitch on some days now.

Sorry, Frank. If that's the worst you can do, I'm going for canonization.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Suffice to say, the fact that I'm on the same side of this issue as Whitlock is making me wonder if I should examine the other side again.

@WhitlockJason http://bit.ly/9jIc0A Read this & u'll understand y I've always believed Will Leitch is a phony piece of manure. Stu Scott crime came natural

Follow up to this. @WhitlockJason Will Leitch is Les Carpenter.

 

[Point of Order]

Ebert has to lurk on here, no?

 

[Pilot]

"You only write about us when we become major news stories"

(fwiw I think criticizing the timing is dumb.)

 

[Fredrick]

Roger Ebert is an enormous talent and a national treasure that most people took for granted. Everyone can write about him if they want. Why complain about it?

Leitch had a great story to tell and he told it. Geez.

I agree, sort of.
The Leitch story really made me soul search and wonder how somebody like Leitch ever could have buried Ebert like that. Makes me wonder if Leitch was hitting the bottle at that time of his life or something.
Seriously.
Roger ****ing Ebert agrees to go to the U of Illinois and go to a pizza place for 3 hours with this guy and his college friends. Ebert should have been a hero of this Leitch forever.
I don't see how (I know we all make mistakes, but geez) Leitch could ever turn on Ebert after that. I mean in my life I remember the little things, the kindness people show me along the way. What Ebert did for Leitch when Ebert was established and Leitch was a college kid should have made Ebert a hero to Leitch the rest of his life.
At the same time, I was sort of moved by how Leitch tried to make amends in his own way by sending flowers, etc.
It was worth reading as a study of human frailty.

 

[imjustagirl]

Ebert linked to Leitch's story from his twitter account, by the way. This is ebert's tweet:

Will Leitch is no longer sick of my fat ****ing face. To which I add, > :) < http://j.mp/95lUGu

Ebert's first tweet on this, at 7:27 ET Monday evening, was this:

@ebertchicago A sweet article by a long time friend who did indeed once bring a wince to my fat face. All is forgiven. http://j.mp/95lUGu

Which, again, shows his character.

Also, if any of you are on Twitter and NOT following Ebert, correct that posthaste. Great writing, even in 140 characters or less, and tons of great links. One of my favorites to follow. Always interesting.

 

[Ace]

Yes. And that is the way to continue taking the high ground when someone wounds you. Michael Wilbon take note.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Ebert has to lurk on here, no?

Would love to be proven wrong, but I'd be shocked if that were true.

 

[Ace]

Ebert has to lurk on here, no?

Would love to be proven wrong, but I'd be shocked if that were true.

Ebert has no love for sports.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Ebert linked to Leitch's story from his twitter account, by the way. This is ebert's tweet:

Will Leitch is no longer sick of my fat ****ing face. To which I add, > :) < http://j.mp/95lUGu

Ebert's first tweet on this, at 7:27 ET Monday evening, was this:

@ebertchicago A sweet article by a long time friend who did indeed once bring a wince to my fat face. All is forgiven. http://j.mp/95lUGu

Which, again, shows his character.

Also, if any of you are on Twitter and NOT following Ebert, correct that posthaste. Great writing, even in 140 characters or less, and tons of great links. One of my favorites to follow. Always interesting.

Yeah, yeah. You gave the same advice for following John Daly on Twitter too - I think you even used the phrase great writing there as well - and look where that ended up.

 

[imjustagirl]

Sorry about him giving out your phone number. I didn't know he was going to use it that way when he said he got it off the truck stop bathroom wall.