[Archive 2007-10-07] An interview with gossip columnist Michael Musto on the art of celebrity journalism

Historical archive — originally published 2007-10-07. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

There are two things one can expect on a trip to see Michael Musto at the offices of the Village Voice: a 20-minute round-trip wait for the elevator and rapid fire answers from one of the most recognizable gossip columnists in the United States. Musto, in addition to his appearances on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and the E! network, has been writing his column for the Voice since 1984. He has recently compiled the best of them in a book released this year titled, La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World's Most Outrageous Columnist. He was Carrie Bradshaw, replete with a prodigious use of puns, before Sex in the City was a thought. His column is a romp through his life, spats and opinions on socio-political issues. As David Thigpen of the Chicago Tribune wrote, Musto is "a funny and caustic satirist who masquerades as a gossip and nightlife columnist."

Musto, a Columbia University graduate, is a rarity in today's celebrity world: he is accessible. He often corresponds with his readers and his public functions are a mix of parties, nightclubs, academic lectures, university panels and film premieres.

He is friendly and frank, and he welcomes people to join him in his world ("I just got a message that Michael Lucas died!" he says staring wide-eyed at his phone; the message turned out to be false). Wikinews reporter David Shankbone spoke with Musto about his life and his relationship to the world of celebrity journalism. And he did not hold back.

MM: The weird thing is, in the middle of all that craziness, I decided to just write my usual column. I put a couple of references to 9/11 in the column, but basically I just put it out there as a run-down of Fashion Week that week. There was more than enough coverage of 9/11 and I wanted to make my little statement to the world that we have to keep doing whatever it is we are doing, no matter how trivial it seems.

MM: I got a great reaction. UPI later did a profile of me because I wrote another column about running around Washington D.C., and they said that I was the one who made it okay to be fun and fabulous again.

MM: It feels great. I always was someone who marches to my own drum and I have been vilified for it at times, so it feels nice to be around long enough that people come around and say, 'Hey, maybe you are doing something good.'

DS: I photographed at the Tribeca Film Festival for Wikipedia, and a lot of the paparazzi photographer would talk in a derogatory way about the celebrities they were photographing, and they gave themselves a lot of credit for making their images. Recently, Cindy Adams wrote in her column a blurb about something Alan Greenspan said, and then she said something to the effect of, 'and I'd mention the name of his book if he had told me that to me first,' as if Greenspan is going to go run to Cindy Adams just to get a book mention in her column. Is the celebrity press lacking humility because they report on the famous?

MM: It's a double-edged sword. Because you are covering the celebrity, some of the celebrity glitter falls on you, and you experience a miniature version of celebrity yourself, especially if like me you go on TV a lot. So you do develop this lofty idea that you're hot shit. But then you go to an event, like a movie premiere, and you are reminded of your place in the food chain.

MM: You have to go through many hoops just to talk to a major celebrity. You have to get past three different sets of publicists: the publicist for the event, the publicist for the movie, and then the celebrity's personal publicist. They all have to approve you. Last night I talked to Kenneth Branagh, who directed Sleuth, and the publicist had to approve me, talk to him, and then I saw him talk to his publicist and say, "Michael Musto...is that okay?" And somehow she said yes. That should actually fuel my ego more that I'm potentially risky enough that I have to get so much approval to even talk to somebody, but what you want in your mind is this fantasy like the Cindy Adams thing, of like, "Oh, let me come to you!" And that often happens! Tori Spelling's publicist was like, 'Sorry, she's not talking right now,' but when Tori recognized me from TV she was like, 'Michael, come here, let's talk.' So that's an ego-enhancing situation, but you are always going to be lower than the celebrity, no matter what. Even if you think you are a celebrity yourself.

DS: Do you have celebrities who simply will not talk to you no matter what you do or say, because you pissed them off so royally?

Source and licence

Text adapted from An interview with gossip columnist Michael Musto on the art of celebrity journalism by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.