← The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
Diddy Verdict Outrage, Barbara Walters' Questionable Legacy, and The Dark Side Of The Hamptons
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Maureen breaks down the outrageous outcome of the Diddy verdict, the message it sends to women everywhere, and the void of celebrity reaction. She also rips into Barbara Walters, revealing her true nature and the negative force her power wielded on the media culture. Then, Maureen delivers a full scope of the not-so-glamorous side of Hamptons life, plus a total takedown of some repeat celeb offenders and their offensive messaging on abortion. Aware House: Visit https://awarehouseshop.com/discount/THENERVE & use code THENERVE for 15% off your first order. Masa Chips: Get 25% off your first order | Use code MAUREEN at https://MASAChips.com/MAUREEN Beverly Hills MD Wrinkle Cream: Watch Dr. Layke's step-by-step video free and uninterrupted at https://BHMD1.com/Nerve
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In the summer, all of Oregon is our playground thanks to our incredible park system. That's why it's so cool that Oregon lottery gameplay like video lottery or cash pop helps support tons of parks projects statewide like accessible trails at Silver Falls State park or upgrades to your favorite dog park in Newburgh. It's just one way a little lottery play for many Oregonians can add up to a lot of good the Oregon Lottery. Together we do good things. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only. Must be 18 or older to play.
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You know how every team has that one clutch player who just knows how to come through in the big moments. For your finance game, that's Experian, your bff. And by that I mean big financial friend. Experian could help you save, lets you check your FICO score and matches you with credit cards. Just download the Experian app and get started for free. Trust me, with this BFF on your roster, your finance game has never been Stronger. Based on FICO Score 8 model offers and approval not guaranteed. Term supply offers not available in all states cs the experian.com for details. Hey everyone and welcome to the Friday edition of the Nerve. We have a very packed show. We've got Diddy. The verdict came in this week as we all know. We've got more true crime. We've got some talk show idiocy. Is there any other kind? We've got the truth about the Hamptons as We greet the 4th of July weekend and Happy Independence Day. So we are going to get into it but before we do, just a quick note. This is our last full nerve for a week. We are going to take a little bit of a break to rest, to refuel. We're Brad Pitt in F1. But we will also be dropping a mini nerve this weekend and we really thought, we really did think very hard about what would be a great mini to leave you with. You know what you might want to like really chew over and just go to town on mixed metaphor. But you know, and so we decided this holiday weekend for the mini we will be going in my troublemakers on one of the darkest forces in the culture today. Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey. Yes, it's an Oprah mini nerve at long last. This woman's had it coming for a long time and we're here to do the job. We think you're gonna love it as much as we loved putting putting it together. Excuse me. We will be back in a minute. Introducing a warehouse, your one stop shop for handmade, unique home goods sourced exclusively from small businesses. A warehouse is dedicated to supporting American manufacturers with over 75% of their items created right here in the US from hand thrown pottery to luxurious candles. And every item is selected for its integrity, craftsmanship and story. Small businesses need our support now more than ever. This year, Forbes has predicted a record breaking 15,000 retail store closures in the US that's more than double the 7,000 plus closures in 2024. By making the effort to support these small retailers, you can make a real difference in people's lives. Today, a warehouse believes that true luxury isn't about brand names, labels or price tags. It's about dedication. It's about creativity and the care that goes in to every product. So visit warehouseshop.com and use code thenerve for 15% off your first order. That's awarehouseshop.com code the nerve for 15% off your first order. On Wednesday of this week, the Diddy verdict was reached in a federal courthouse in downtown New York City. And for women everywhere, this verdict is depressing. It's enraging. It defies logic. If you even look at the counts that he was found guilty and not guilty on count one, racketeering, conspiracy, not guilty. Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, one count in the case of Cassie Ventura, the other for Jane Doe, both not guilty. Transportation to engage in prostitution, two counts guilty. Those are the far lesser charges. I don't understand logically how a jury can find him not guilty of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, but guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution. This does not track to me, but we will get into it in a moment. I also want to talk about the ways in which this was covered in both New York City tabloids and national publications. And this tells us everything about how these publications want us to think. The Daily News, which at this point is largely irrelevant, but it's a good front page. Diddy spared the worst. It's got the court sketch of him probably praying to God theatrically. A God who I think has long since stopped taking Sean Combs's calls. The Journal, front page, above the fold. Above the fold is a huge deal. Sean Diddy Combs, this courtroom sketch on his hands and knees in a supplicant position, begging for his freedom. Okay, the New York Times, by the way, if you look at this, if I, if I picked this up this morning, I looked at above the fold, I looked at below the fold, and I'm going, where's Sean Combs, the biggest American story of the week, Save the Idaho college murders plea deal, which we'll get to in a moment. And you would think nothing happened, except if you look way over on the left without any sort of graphic or illo. None of these. None of these dramatic things. Combs avoids life in prison in split verdicts. Could you think of a more anodyne headline? Sky is public enemy number one in New York City right now. New York Post did it best. Notorious P. I. G with that undeniable image of Sean Combs grabbing a helpless Cassie by the neck before that beating and dragging that we all saw. Now, I paid a lot of attention to the news coverage, local and national, on linear cable and linear broadcast news because that still counts. People do still watch it. We saw. I could not believe this. If you need any further proof that New York City is really going downhill in a way that may not be salvageable. There were supporters of Diddy's spraying baby oil all over each other outside in extreme heat, by the way, in celebration of this monster, this abuser of women, this man who beats women because he hates women and probably hates himself. And you and I, we both know what I'm talking about here. Great, Great. What an addition. You know, his freedom, his eventual freedom will be. By the way, this, this Us Weekly is like a month old. Did he will. Did he walk? I thought this was just a lame attempt to like, you know, get some clicks and likes and move some copies. But no, they were right. He's not going to serve much time at all. He's not going to serve much time at all. Now, there was coverage in on local and national. So local affiliates and national news networks, live coverage of this jury verdict. And there's a woman named Sandra Bookman who has been a longtime reporter slash news anchor on ABC News. She's black woman and she said of this verdict, quote, you have to give the jury credit for being able to wade through that information. Number one, I'm going to say that is a low bar because that is the very definition of serving on a jury waiting through information to arrive at a decision. And secondly, do we have to give this jury credit? A jury, by the way, that was eight men for women. The composition we are hearing was of many older people. I don't think I have to give this jury credit for wading through that information. I think that jury. I think there were people on that jury who were either a determined that Sean Combs would not be facing life in prison, that he would be getting at best A slap on the wrist. Or B. Or B. I put nothing past Sean Combs. A couple of them were gotten to. A couple of them were given some payoffs. Just a theory. Just my theory. Now, of that verdict. This is what. This is what a local news anchor on a major affiliate, ABC News, known to her viewers lo these many years, says of the verdict, Quote, that's their business. I don't want to get into that. If I'm running that affiliate of ABC News, I'm suspending that woman or I'm firing her for cause. And the cause is she's a. It is all of our business. It is all of our business. Especially the victims who now fear for their safety. Cassie fears for her safety, and she's not crazy to. I think it's the most sane reaction possible. And especially women everywhere. Because if you don't think this sends a message about what men can still do to women with impunity. Okay, okay. Now, let's remember that there was a third female victim set to testify against Sean Combs. An alleged victim who withdrew at the last minute and I think fled to another state. I mean, do we need any more evidence as to the danger and the threat this guy poses? Now, after the verdict was read and the defense said to the judge, we would like to move for Sean to be let out on bail. So this is a first offense. It's not a first offense. Everyone who lives in New York knows Sean Combs. The gun, the nightclub, the woman who got shot in the face, someone else who took the fall. My opinion and the opinion of many in the hip hop community, again lo these many years, the City College stampede that left people dead. Sean Combs was the promoter. Early 90s, the longstanding rumors that Kim Porter, his. The mother of several of his children who died of pneumonia at a very young age. What that death is about, really, Tupac and Biggie, I mean, come on, we're gonna. We're gonna pretend that Sean Combs is just an aficionado of buying baby oil in bulk. So Cassie's lawyers, either very swiftly or they had it ready to go. They submitted a letter to the judge, and they were begging him, begging him to keep Sean Combs incarcerated, knowing that he is a risk. Despite the lawyer saying that Combs would put up his mansion on Star Island. That is a very exclusive island in Florida. There's like 30 millionaires and billionaires who live there. You can only get access by boat. That mansion, he would put up for collateral. His private plane has been, you know, okay. Anyway, the Judge said no. The judge said no. And I think if this judge is smart, between now and October, which is when the sentencing is scheduled for, he will really think long and hard about the message the sentence he meets out is going to send. So as I'm writing down this other utterance from a female, a female NBC correspondent in the wake of this aftermath, you know, again, you can't trust anything these people are telling you. They're not reporting the facts and they're not trying at all to be objective. So this is a female correspondent on Wednesday NBC, a woman of color who wondered aloud if the jury voted not guilty on the greater charges because, quote, black men are historically found guilty of stuff white men would get a pass for. So I guess we're back in the days of OJ and look how that turned out. Okay, Jane Doe testified to many horrors. But among the text messages that were read aloud that she sent to Sean Combs after freak offs that she was begging to stop being a forced participant in, she, she wrote to Sean Combs, quote, I am not an animal. I am not a porn star. She, like Cassie, at one point, during a freak off, vomited. And Sean Combs said, get back in there. Capricorn Clark, his assistant, said that she was kidnapped and she was taken to a warehouse somewhere in midtown Manhattan. And she was held there for days. And she was threatened with her life because Sean Combs thought she stole some jewelry and she was going to be subjected to a polygraph. And if she failed that polygraph, a test that determines your truthfulness by your blood pressure and your heart rate. So your life's being threatened and you're totally cool. She was going to be thrown in the east river and her body would never be found. Okay, now, before, or maybe it was after the verdict, I forget. But regardless, the optics are disgusting. Sean Combs was leading his family in prayer. His family, including his mother, exits the courtroom, posts this verdict. And it's like they're on the red carpet. They're smiling, they're waving, they're exalting. They're dressed in their best. Like, they're so proud. They're so proud they have this depraved criminal as the patriarch of their family. Okay? And by the way, this verdict's coming down on Independence Day. You know, let's not forget the most coveted ticket in the Hamptons. And this we're going to get to towards the end of our show, the Hamptons. What you see is not what you get. What you're fed by the media is not what the case is, trust me. But the most coveted ticket for years in the East Hampton was Diddy's annual White party on the 4th of July weekend or whenever it fell, whatever. You know what I mean? And I just also want to note that Jane Doe was sketched by the courtroom artist, always faceless. And I think I found these images the most haunting and poignant of the trial because she was in such fear for her life and safety, and I'm sure still is that they couldn't even give us a glimpse of what she actually looked like. And to me, that faceless image stands for all of the women who have and are and will suffer domestic and sexual violence and in the wake of a verdict like this, will feel that it's pointless to come forward. And why not just remain faceless? Because if the criminal justice system is just going to beat you up all over again, what is the point? Happy holidays. And regarding Diddy, I want to make one other final note that I think is incredibly important and salient because it's the thing that's not being said, and it's the thing that none of these news reports or the entertainment shows, you know, your. Your. Your Access Hollywoods, your extras, or any of these like us weeklies, like, none of these, they're not talking about what's not being said. Okay, here's what's not happening. There is not a celebrity Oprah among them. She's getting it. Who has stood up and said, justice for Sean Combs, justice for Diddy. He is not capable of this. None of the celebrities who attended the white parties or any other of Diddy's events, you know, they all know. They knew and they know, and that's why they're not standing up for him. And they're also keeping their mouths shut because cynical fucks that they are the. They know that once this guy gets out, they might need him. They might need him for something or he knows where their bodies are buried. So keep that in mind when you see photos of Diddy with these people from his white parties on red carpets, whatever. Just keep that in mind. And as we watch, you know, certain former child stars, Usher talked a lot about it. We talked about Usher's. What Usher had to say on the Nerve. Justin Bieber was under his mentorship for a time. You know, and I'm just going to say, finally, we here at the Nerve, we troublemakers, we will never let up. Diddy is facing more civil suits regarding sexual assault, enforceable drugging and rape. And we will be covering them all okay. In granular detail. And in the meantime, here is hoping hotels across America from refused to take his bookings. You all know his pseudonyms. I don't think he has time to come up with new ones. Okay, now on to the other huge true crime case of the week. And this is an outcome few of us saw coming. The suspect in the Idaho college murders case. I'm not going to say his name. That's what these guys want. School shooters, serial killers, mass murderers. It's what they want. So let's not do it. He pled guilty. He was going to go on trial this summer and he pled guilty. He will not face trial. He will not face the death penalty, which likely would have been by firing squad. You know, I have several thoughts on this. I know that some of the families of the victims are rightly outraged and of course they are. And there are other survivors of the victims family members who believe this was probably the best outcome. They won't have to sit in court. They won't have to see and hear images and details of what was done to their loved ones. I know that some of the rage goes to never getting a why from the murderer. And you know, I learned a lot. I learned a lot when I was writing American Predator, when it took me years, years to report that out and research it. And I spent say, a good solid two and a half years talking very closely at least once a week with some of the finest investigative minds who worked that case. FBI, police, criminal investigators, experts and serial killers. And I can promise you there's never really a why. There are just psychopaths among us who can only keep the mask affixed for so long. And they are driven by urges that are looking for targets. I think the worst outcome for someone like this, this suspect, this, this, this confessed quadruple murderer that we know of, who would have done it again, he went on Amazon and was buying another sheath. Sheath to replace the one that he used in that murder is to live in a, in a horrible. You know, he's going to one of the worst facilities that there are. And I suspect, you know, I have no problem saying this because I do think like with criminals like this, with murderers like this, I would have no problem with the death penalty. I think there are some people out there who just need killing and this guy's one of them. But I, I wouldn't be surprised if he got it in prison like Jeffrey Dahmer style. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be, you know, how did Jeffrey Dahmer get torn limb from limb and in general population where he wasn't supposed to be and there were no corrections officers around. Wonder. Right. Wonder. So, you know, I do think justice has been served in probably the best, most expedient way possible. Coming up, something lighter. Something much lighter. Talk show idiocy. And we're going to begin with the documentary that I've been teasing that we're going to be talking a lot about. Finally, we're going to get to it. The Barbara Walters documentary and. And her legacy, which she thought was great and I think was, well, I'll just beg to differ. And then we've got some more hardcore offenders in the culture. We will see you in a minute. This episode is brought to you by Masa Chips. Did you know that chips and fries used to be cooked in tallow up until the 1990s? And that's when big corporations switched to cheaper processed seed oils. And today seed oils make up 20% of the average American's daily calories. With recent studies linking seed oils to metabolic health issues and inflammation in the body. So Masa decided to do something about it and they created a tasty and delicious tortilla chip with three ingredients, none of them seed oils, just organic corn, sea salt and 100 chicken percent grass fed beef tallow. These chips don't only avoid all the bad stuff, they taste incredible too. Masa is crunchier, tastier and sturdier than other chips. 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In the summer, all of Oregon is our playground thanks to our incredible park system. That's why it's so cool that Oregon lottery gameplay like video lottery or cash pop helps support tons of parks projects statewide like accessible trails at Silver Falls State park or upgrades to your favorite dog park in Newburgh. It's just one way a little lottery play for many Oregonians can add up to a lot of good. The Oregon Lottery. Together we do good things. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only. Must be 18 or older to play.
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Welcome back to the Nerve. We have lots to get to. So first up, I want to address Anna Wintour. I touched upon her exit from Vogue briefly in the last episode. She was let go. This will not be reported upon really anywhere, because she's still trying to control the narrative. And I think she's succeeding for the moment, but my sources tell me it was not voluntary. And do we really need even sources to confirm this? This is a woman whose lifelong goal from a very young age was to be head bitch in charge at American Vogue. She wielded power known to few outside the likes of Osama bin Laden. They don't give that up voluntarily. They don't. And last week, by the way, I also have it on good authority that despite Conde Nast insisting that she was in New York business as usual, she was actually in London. Which is very telling, because if that's true, that means that they were architecting this ouster so that Anna would literally be not in her seat of power. She would be, like, sort of discombobulated. Now, she addressed her staffers, I believe, remotely, again, just what my sources are telling me. And she said that this is a quote, okay? This is, you're gonna die. You're gonna die at this quote. Anna Wintour, upon stepping down as editor in chief of Vogue. This is my all in moment at the company. It's full Norma Desmond. It's full Norma Desmond. And, you know, not for nothing, I've heard from people who have had direct dealings with her, people who have their own power, you know, who aren't like, reliant on Anna for anything. And they're thrilled she's gone. Thrilled. Okay? So ding dong indeed. Now onto Barbara Walters, the Hulu documentary that just premiered. It's called Tell Me Everything. It first screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. And, you know, it's gotten a fair amount of, you know, sort of gauzy, you know, sort of fluffy praise. But, you know, while I do think that Barbara Walters is an important cultural figure and did pave the way for many women, she was also a very dark figure. She was a very unhappy woman. And she really contributed to. She contributed two things, which I think, one, which I think she was a visionary in this way. She saw the mixture of hard news and entertainment news. A borning in the culture long before anybody else really did. You know her Barbara Walters interview specials, they were prime times. Sorry, they were primetime specials with like major Hollywood stars, a list stars. And they would let her in, into their homes and it would be our first look at how like an Elizabeth Taylor was living or an Eddie Murphy was living. You know, they were, they were revelations. But her, her lines of questioning were often mean. And this is important because they really are a reflection of who she was and her dark energy and her self loathing and how in the right packaging, it was swallowed by the bulk of America as normal. I think now she asked John Goodman, I pulled some of these quotes from the Hulu special. We can't air the clips. You'll have to go look for yourself if you want to see it. But she asked John Goodman, who has struggled with his weight his entire life and who became a major star on the roseanne show on roseanne and is an incredible actor. This is the question she has to ask him. Are you happy with your weight? Could you imagine asking this someone to their face? To Bette Midler, not a conventional beauty, but a force, an original in every way possible. Tibette Midler, who she says is her friend. She asks her on this interview on camera, close up on Bette Midler. Barbara says to her, what do you think of the way you look now? Bette Midler's taken aback a little bit. And she says, well, I think I look great, you know. And Barbara goes, no kidding? And so then bet tries to defuse it by joking. She, she makes a joke. She says, hey, hey, get out of my house. And Barbara goes, you think you're sexy. Not for nothing, in the beginning of this documentary, there's a lot of talk about how Barbara hated the way she looked. And her father ran a nightclub that was very famous in New York City and there were showgirls all over the place. And he was probably cheating on her mother. That's the inference. And you know it's true. Come on. And you know, so she probably grew up in a house where her mother felt like shit and her mother made her feel like shit. And she had, by the way, she also had a sister who had learning disabilities. And this was back when there was a lesser understanding of what those things were or how to treat them and that they're not case by case basis. And she wrote in her memoir how she fucking resented her sister. I mean, really ugly stuff. You know, she went on to live a life of like, wealth and fame and power and she resents her sister, okay? She also loved dictators. She loved Fidel Castro, okay? She never really addressed all those rumors that, like when she spent a week in Cuba with Fidel flirting on camera, you know, that like, maybe they got up to something. She allowed Roy Cohn, an evil man and evil man, to fix her father's tax problem. And she said, she's heard saying in this documentary, Roy Cohn did some terrible things. She didn't really care, though, because he helped her out. Okay? Cindy Adams is on camera saying, listen, Barbara Walters didn't care about you unless you had fame, money or power, unless you had something that she wanted. And this documentary also goes to great pains, especially in the beginning when they're sort of setting the table, as we call it, to say that because Barbara grew up with a father who was in the nightclub industry, like, she didn't really care about fame. Like she was unimpressed with celebrity. And let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth. Barbara Walters was a total star fucker. And when she was on the View, the show she created, and we'll get to that, and the idiocy she's responsible for that we suffer from to this day, she would sit and she would, like in her fake Boston Brahmin accent, and she never pronounced her. Oh, it was all, you know, that was such an affect. She was a New Yorker through and through. No New Yorker talks like that. But she would sit there and she would always brag about it. You know, like every time it was her birthday, every year, she would say this like she had never said it before. Oh, do you know who I share a birthday with? My great good friends, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. You know, they're married and they have the same birthday and I have the same birthday. And so every year we go out for our birthdays together and we celebrate them because we're such good friends. And guess who's not in this documentary, okay? Via People magazine. This is a 12-31-31, 2022 piece. Walters had famously interviewed Elizabeth Taylor and her sixth husband, the Senator John Warner, in 1977. Now, Liz Taylor had been through it and she had gained a lot of weight and she was depressed. Being a senator's wife wasn't really cutting it for her. She was struggling. But she had Barbara Walters come to her home and sit with her and her husband at her kitchen table. Now, Barbara, this is Liz, was a bat noir for Barbara, because not only did Liz have everything Barbara wanted, but she had dated John Warner before Liz married her. Him. Excuse Me. And when Liz divorced him, Barbara went back to John Warner. In this interview again, Barbara's a guest in Elizabeth Taylor's home. Barbara is telling Elizabeth that she needs to take care of herself. And she, quote, ought to eat a few more vegetables for breakfast. Okay? Like, the nerve. The nerve. Then Barbara asked Elizabeth Taylor, who had struggled with her weight and was very open about it. This was the woman, you know, at the height of her beauty, there was nobody else on the planet, and she gained all this weight, and what a humiliation for her. She was depressed, and she was very open about her struggles. This is before confessional culture that, you know, that Oprah Usher ushered in. So Barbara just keeps to Liz Taylor. I'm gonna shiv you. Does it. Does it matter to you that you've put on weight? And so Taylor is, like, keeping her dignity, and she says, no, it doesn't, because I'm happy. I'm happy, and I enjoy eating, and I like to cook. And, you know, maybe there was some truth to that. Maybe Elizabeth Taylor had had enough of dieting to within an inch of her life to be a leading lady. Okay? She'd been in the movies since the age of, like, 10 or 12. She probably did have it. Okay? So Barbara Walters follows up, because we can't let this go. Can't let it go. She says, you wouldn't care if you got fat. And Liz Taylor says to her, I am fat. Fuck Barbara Walters. God, she was so terrible. Okay? So Barbara invents the View. She creates the View. It's this show about women of different generations. It's a morning chat show, and they all talk about the issues of the day. Now, she brings on one Sherri shepherd, who we will get to. But the other thing about this documentary that is important, I think very salient. So Barbara Walters adopted a baby girl during one of her three marriages. And, you know, she always. She would tell this story on the View all the time. Like, I. I adopted Jackie. You know, we were at dinner with another couple, and they had a daughter, and they didn't want her. And we said, we'll take her. So this is a story she's telling on the air to America about her adopted daughter, who she should just call her daughter. Your dinner with another couple who casually says, like, they bought a car they don't like anymore, piece of furniture they don't like. We don't want her. Oh, we'll take her. I suspect that Barbara Walters had zero interest in being a mother. I think she had zero maternal instinct. And this was the thing that you do back then, you had a kid. You just had to have a kid if you were a woman. And so that box got checked off and off. Barbara went to secure her next big interview with, you know, Cher, whomever, while her kid is left alone. Now, Cynthia McFadden is in this documentary defending Barbara. You know, some of these celebrities, they're kind of like, shiving her. They are like, Katie Couric's there saying, like, oh, you know Barbara. Yeah, loved her. Loved her. You know, Barbara once said to me, like, you and I have a lot in common because, you know, neither one of us are great beauties. They put us on TV even though we're not attractive. That's like, what the. I mean, I'm no fan of Katie Kirk, but what the. What kind of thing is that to say? Cynthia McFadden, set, has the temerity to say in this documentary. This is a quote, Jackie had a governess. A governess. Jackie had a governess. So it wasn't that Jackie was left alone in a play pen. Cynthia, that is not the point that she had hired help. Now, Jackie and Barbara would also talk about this always on the View, and it was very gratifying to hear Barbara then try to be like, every time summer was coming up and all the ladies of the View would be talking about their summer plans, they would turn to Barbara. Barbara, what's your plan? Are you going to see your daughter? And Barbara would always be like, you know, Jackie's very busy. She runs a camp for youth. And I think youth in crisis. We'll see. Why. I could be wrong, but I think she runs a camp and she's really busy. And so, you know, if she has the time, like, we will visit, of course, but I don't want to interrupt her. It was so clear. Take notes. Meghan Markle. It was so clear that this girl, this adult daughter of Barbara Walters, wanted nothing to do with her. Nothing. Okay? Now, she gave an interview years ago, and it's in this documentary. Her daughter, no surprise, because she's clearly been neglected by an adoptive mother who tells that origin story to anyone who will listen and is too busy chasing celebrities around the globe to pay attention to her only child. Jackie develops some behavioral issues. Jackie develops some drug and alcohol issues. Jackie's running away from home. Of course, any place is better. So Barbara gives an interview about somebody having to go find Jackie and get her, and then Barbara sends her to what Barbara calls a, quote, emotional growth school, and she's packed away there for three years. Jackie was 16. And, you know, thanks to Paris Hilton and others who have talked about their time at these kind of rehabilitative schools for troubled youth, we know what goes on there. I'm not saying that that was what Jackie suffered, but I'm just saying. Now, Barbara Walters also was asked about her daughter's drug issues, and Barbara spoke about them. And I'm sorry, that's not your story to tell. But here's Barbara with the close up and the tears in the eyes saying almost any pill she could swallow. Feel sorry for me, the mother who has to abide this, to suffer this. My daughter's a drug addict. It's what a shame. Fuck you. And Jackie, by the way, is not part of this documentary. She never asked for any of this. And I think it's disgusting that this part of the story is in the documentary. I really, really, really do. Oprah's in this documentary, and she tries to paint Barbara's neglect as a mother. I'm going to say this neglect is adjacent to abuse. Because if your kid is running away at that age and spending time with strange men and ingesting drugs and alcohol to kill the pain, you failed, okay? You failed. Now, Oprah tries to paint this as selfless. And she says on her throne in this documentary, you are a pioneer in your field of Barbara. She's probably talking about herself, too, but whatever. You are a pioneer in your field, and you are trying to break the mold for yourself and for women who are, who are going to follow you. I promise you, Barbara Walters was not thinking at all about the women who are going to follow her. And I have my own little story about Barbara Walters. Years ago, when I was at the New York Post, I was doing a profile of one of her lesser contributors at that table on the View, a lesser mind. And that's saying something because it's not a brain trust. And of course, I called Barbara for a comment because this really is promotion. Even if it's a negative story, which it was, it's still promotion for the View. People hate watch the View. So I had this appointed time set up by her assistant at ABC to call in. And then the assistant was going to patch me into Barbara. And Barbara knew that this reporter at this outlet is calling for a quote on this person. It takes two minutes, tops, okay? I get patched in to Barbara, and I show proper respect. I almost never called people miss or mister. I would just call them by their first names. But in this case, I said, when she picked up, I said, hi, Ms. Walters. This is more and she cut me off. And she goes, yeah, what do you want? She was cogent at the time. I didn't have anything to offer her. So, you know, that's how she talked to people who didn't have anything to offer her. And you know, as far as, again, that mothering, you know, we've got, we've got Charles Manson to interview, we've got the Menendez brothers to interview. Jackie will just be fine at her home for emotionally troubled people because we're off talking in the likes of Charles Manson and the Menendez brothers. Physician, heal thyself. Now, this kind of race to the bottom of what we call infotainment, we can lay a lot of the blame at Barbara's feet, okay? There are no real friends in this documentary because she didn't really have any friends. There were no people who seemed to really know her intimately and could speak to her sorrows and her joys, or she didn't really have anyone. And these people are so valuable who could contradict her, who could speak freely to her. You know, she would have been better off for it. She would have been less lonely. But instead, in her never ending quest for fame and for power. And as we have said on the View, as one person once said, I believe it was a Washington D.C. poll, the most dangerous place on earth is between Barbara Walters and a television camera. We come to the View and we come to the Sherri shepherd era. Now we're still feeling the sort of aftershocks from the whoopee earthquake of, you know, black people in America have it worse than women in Iran, okay? And she's still at that table. But, you know, Sherri shepherd walked so Whoopi could run. Now, Sherry may have been Barbara Walters all time. Greatest misfire here. We're going to take a quick look at Sherry cheerfully relaying why ABC brass didn't want to hire her. And Barbara saying, no, I think she'd be great. First of all, Barbara had to fight to get me on the show alongside Whoopi. The network didn't want me because at that time they thought that, you know, all African Americans were monolithic in their thinking. Sherry, I don't think that was the reason. I don't think that was the reason. I think they knew you were a. I think they knew that if they took an EKG of your brain activity, it would be so I'm going to quote, I'll do the dialogue. I'm an actress now, so I can play multiple roles. This has largely been scrubbed from the Internet, but you can't scrub everything. I mean, you know, nothing disappears forever. So I did find the clip. We can't air it, sadly, for rights and clearances reasons. But I'm going to do a reading now. This is a conversation. I don't know how evolution came up at this table, but evolution came up and Sherry couldn't figure it out. Okay, Whoopee. So you don't believe that evolution happened? SHERRY no. WHOOPI Is the world flat? SHERRY Is the world flat? WHOOPI yes. SHERRY I don't know. I mean, you have to laugh. But these are the people that Barbara Walters and ABC News thought were at the level to beam into the homes of American women and any other bystanders who happen to be watching at 11am Eastern to talk about the issues, to have an intelligent discourse worthy of the audience. So that was in 2007 and also in that same year. Sherry was a big Bible thumper back then, and it's amazing. The contradictions are amazing. She said that the ancient Greeks had persecuted the Christians even though Christ was not born at the time of ancient Greece. And in that vein, when we look, going back now to the conversation about whether the earth is flat, Whoopi attempts to be Socratic, if you will, in getting Sherry to the realization that the earth is indeed round. Whoopi says, what do you think? SHERRY I never thought about it. WHOOPI Is the world flat? I never thought about it. Barbara comes in but you never thought about. And I'm going to stop the dialogue right here because it's learned. It's not thought about whether the earth is round or flat. It's like, did you go to school? Are you literate? Have you seen a photo of the Earth taken by NASA astronauts from outer space? Do you understand? Have you seen a movie that the earth is round? No. They're using this euphemism thought about. No, it's a fact. BARBARA Whether the world was round or flat? SHERRY no, because and she's buying time here. She's buying time because she doesn't fucking know. I'll tell you what I have thought about. Sherry says, I thought about how I'm going to feed my child. Okay, let's talk about the child, because Sherry gave an interview around that same time saying that she believed that she knew, unlike whether the earth is flat around, but she knew for sure that gay people are going to hell because that's what her Christian religion teaches her, okay? One year later, she told a Christian magazine called Precious Times, I've had more abortions than I can count. So she's a big Christian who wants us to believe she's smart enough to be on the View, even though she doesn't know about evolution and the shape of the earth that she lives on and that gays are going to go to hell. But it's cool that she's had multiple abortions that she has used as birth control. I mean, again, if I'm running ABC News, I'm just firing her for. Cause she's too stupid. Too stupid. You okay? This, this is the other thing that I couldn't believe. Her. Her. Her struggling, her inability. I mean, she probably believes humans roamed the Earth at the same time as dinosaurs. Now, I'm gonna show you guys, because when I. When I was going back through this, I was like, I wonder if she had ever seen this movie. And I forgot exactly when this movie came out, but I thought, okay, this would be a good test. So when you go to the movies, and it doesn't necessarily have to be Apollo 13, it could be any Universal film, you would see the Earth underneath the Universal logo, round and rotating in outer space. You know, who should talk to her? Gill King. I mean, has Sherry never been to the movies? Okay, so now we're going to look at Tom Hanks uttering one of the most classic lines in American cinema and American history. Because this was radioed by astronaut Jim Lovell to NASA ground control. Let's take a look.
- [47:38]
A
Houston, we have a problem.
- [47:41]
B
That line has its own wiki page. I'm not making that up. It has its own wiki page. And that movie came out in 1995, which means the odds that Sherri shepherd saw it on cable are pretty high. So by the time 2007 rolls around, which, you know, is the Earth, a year is the Earth's revolution around the sun. Could you imagine being seated next to Sherri shepherd at like a dinner party? So again, I. Let's thank Barbara Walters for this, for this idiocy, because it runs riot in the culture now on morning shows, in publishing houses, on social media. And as I've said before, you know, Sherry and her. Her careless utterances about the multiple abortions she had more than I can count. How many abortions have you had? You know, I think even I've said. I've said it before. Even the most pro choice among us can agree that abortion is a tragedy. And that per Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, it should be safe, legal, and rare. Now, it still continues to this day among actors and artists who think it's the height of progressive liberalism to judge nothing and in fact, to celebrate death, whether it's terrorism or whether it's late stage termination of pregnancies or whether it's just like, whoops, I forgot to use birth control, so I'll just go get an abortion. Here's Lily Allen. In 2002, she. Sorry, no, in 2022, excuse me, she posted this to Instagram. Stories, Quote, I wish people would stop posting examples of exceptional reasons for having abortions. Most people I know, myself included, just didn't want to have a baby. So this week she's reinvented herself as a podcaster. She's a mess. Okay, this woman's a mess. And. But people are. People are listening to her. Her podcast airs on BBC Sounds. She's got this co host whose name I didn't even look up because they're both such morons and I think they are complete amoral. I'm not going to even give you the name of her podcast because she such an. Here they are talking about abortion. Like, I was just, yeah, I'd get pregnant all the time. Yeah, I get pregnant all the time. Like, like, she'd catch a cold all the time. Okay, here she is, continuing on. Abortions. I've had a few, but then again, I can't remember exactly how many. Really? Yeah. Why didn't this come up in last week's episode? We were just talking about abortions. Because I was just letting you. You run with it, reveal everything. I can't remember. Yeah, I think maybe, like, I want to say five. Four or five. Yeah, I've had about five, too. She's saying that abortions. I've had a few to the tune of Frank Sinatra's My Way. And then they're saying, like, oh, I've had about four or five. Yeah, I've had about four or five. You know, I returned like, five of those items I bought the other day. I didn't really like them. They didn't really fit. You know, what you order, it's not what you get. Lena Dunham. We've addressed her before. We're addressing her now. We'll address her in the future. As long as she runs riot in the culture, she's got a place on the nerve. She's got a new Netflix series streaming next Friday. And in a June preview panel, in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she was talking about abortion, figuring prominently in her new show. Quote, as an artist, I'm proud that we get to be a part of showing people all over the world a healthy woman making this phrase, a super self actualized choice to get reproductive care, a really true loving abortion provider. So to be able to represent that was really, really important to me. Do you think poor women who need abortions are finding loving, caring abortion providers who are holding their hands like, fuck off. This is a tragedy. And people in your cohort, over educated, spoiled Nepo babies from wealthy parts of New York City have no business not using birth control. Okay, I know she got a hysterectomy. That's a whole other story for a whole other time. Now I'm going to say there's, there's a graphic warning because if you look at the trailer for her new Netflix show, she's got really fucked up ideas about sex. And there's a scene of her in her boy in bed with her boyfriend. There's a woman playing, there's another actress playing the Lena part, but he's on top of her and she's below. And we see in like this dark silhouette, it's supposed to be super romantic. He's spitting something into her open mouth. It's just disgusting. She is so up and. But she is still touted by the culture by like the New Yorkers and like the indie world and HBO and the Judd Apatows and the downtown art scene is really smart and she's really sensitive. Here's what she infamously said about abortion in 2016 on her then podcast, Women of the Hour. Quote, I wanted to make it really clear that as much as I was going out and fighting for other women's options, I myself have never had an abortion. And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue because she said she never had an abortion. So then she goes on to say, now I, Lena says, now I can say that I still haven't had an abortion, but I wish I had. There is no hope for some people. I really think that some people are beyond help. And to our last example, one Cynthia Nixon, currently before fouling our airwaves on HBO within just like that, she posted this to Instagram on Wednesday, July 2. It's an image of her on a boat. I'm sure she's, she's out on the open water. I'm sure she's in Montauk. Sure she's living her best life at her second home, the height of summer. She's easy breezy. She's wearing a baseball cap, a red baseball cap that's meant to look like a MAGA cap, but it says make abortion great again. And HBO wonders why. And Just like that has been thoroughly rejected by the culture. Renew it for the hate watching. Renew it for the eyeballs. Go ahead. But it's like culturally it's a loss leader for you guys over at hbo. Just saying. Now even many of Cynthia's most die hard liberal followers on Instagram are disgusted. They are disgusted. Here's a sampling of the responses. Diane Hall 727 quote I'm pro choice as well, but I wouldn't ever wear that hat. It's not great at all. It's devastating to the woman. Experience it. Experiencing it. Manta R NYC this is pretty sick. There's nothing great about about abortion even if you're pro choice. It's not great. It's a tragedy. Credible quote I would never wear that hat and I am pro choice. Nat KJ I've had some really close friends who are dear to me and who I supported having an abortion and none of them said it was great. And finally one called Embrace not accept difference. I understand being pro choice even though I am not. But what I will never understand is how someone could say abortion and gray together. And I have a very close friend who had one years ago and only recently confided in me. And it haunts her to this day. Haunts her to this day. So you know Cynthia Nixon, take your hat, shove it up your ass and shut your mouth. Go the away. Coming up. That was a catharsis. That was a real catharsis. Okay, coming up, we are going to explore like Sherri shepherd, do you know there's a dark side of the moon? We're going to explore the dark side of the Hamptons. But before we take our quick break, this is your friendly reminder to keep writing to me, especially next week as we take our little break. Like use that time. Send me your ideas, your thoughts, your feedback. I am maureenvilmakehairmedia.com DM me on Instagram and be sure to like subscribe and spread the word about the nerve. The faster we keep growing, the faster we can bring you even more and longer original content. We will be back in a minute. We've all heard it before. Wrinkle creams are the secret to looking younger. 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Want to see what everyone's talking about? Just go to bhmdi1.com nerve or click the link in the description. If it works for you, Dr. Lakey has one simple request. Please share it. Let's help more people feel confident in their skin. What if you could use your home equity to pay off your debt without monthly payments so you could focus on reaching your other financial goals? With a home equity investment from HomeTap, you can get access to your home equity in cash, get closer to financial freedom and get more out of life. Learn more and see if you pre qualify for an investment@hometap.com subject to eligibility terms and conditions apply. Get access to your home equity in cash. Visit hometap.com to apply in minutes. That's hometap.com we are back. It is our July 4th edition of the Nerve and there is no, no better time to do this segment. I've been thinking about it a lot and then I realized it has to be July 4th. I wanted to do a segment on the Hamptons because this weekend especially you are probably going to see your social media and news feeds clogged with gossip reports about everybody who's out in the Hamptons and frolicking around and having the time of their lives and and splashing about and spending $70 on a single cocktail. And people are going to be posting selfies like Cynthia Nixon, like we just talked about. And I'm here to tell you it is nothing at all like what you see, whether it's people and their own selfies and their own social media or it's stuff that you see in the tabloids or on the entertainment shows. It is not that, I promise you. I'm going to start with the story of a woman named Candace Miller who was a big influencer out here. She had this blog called Mama and Tata. It never made any sense to me or she was actually was an Instagram account, excuse me it was an Instagram account, and she had, at its height, I think, like, 80,000 followers. And her whole thing was, look at how fabulous I am. And here's just sort of one version of an image that you would see of Candace living her best life. Oh, my God, are we having the most fun ever. Look at. Look at my gown. Look at what it costs. Look at what my body costs to maintain and my face and my hair. And my husband's so wealthy. And we have these two beautiful children, and we have this mansion in the Hamptons, and we have this, like, super luxe apartment in Tribeca. And I'm an influencer, and don't you want to be like me? Well, last summer, Candace's husband, while Candace and her children were on a European vacation, went into his garage out in the Hamptons and closed the garage door and got in his car and started the engine and committed suicide. And it later came out, not that much later, but everybody who saw that story knew what it was. He had gone into debt trying to finance their lifestyle. And Candace scurried about, just my opinion, doing what one like her does best, finding other people to finance her Lux life. I believe one of Diane von Furstenberg's children or relatives, or maybe Diane herself, put Candace up in one of her luxury apartments in Miami. And Candace has been busy landing on her feet. You know, there was a page 6 report, say within the past week. It was the lead item, like that banner item. And apparently, I didn't know this. I'm not Jewish. I was. I was raised Catholic, but in Jewish tradition, it's common to unveil the deceased's gravestone one year after they die. And her husband's family had the unveiling the year later. And I believe it was in Brooklyn. And Candace didn't show up. And the family was furious. Furious. And, you know, her excuse was like, she had other shit to do. Life goes on. Your son and brother and nephew and friend bankrupted himself so that I could live large. Well, you know what? No use crying over spilled milk. I got shit to attend to. I got a lifestyle to lead. And guess what? What? She has rebranded herself as a wellness and lifestyle expert. Right? A wellness and lifestyle expert. Her Instagram page is now up. Her new Instagram page. We're looking at, like, a sunrise with, like, rays bursting through the clouds at, like, a pristine beach, and the ocean looks like dark but light. She's got some bullshit up there about, like, having to go through dark times to get to the crowd. The good stuff all the all the these people sling. And you'll see among her celebrity commenters, her celebrity supporters in this, I find it amoral. I find it vapid. I find it useless, I find it disgusting. I feel sorry for her poor children who she probably isn't even raising. Jamie Lynn Sigler, thumbs up. Love you, mama. You know, I'm paraphrasing some in substance. And Rebecca Minkoff, she laid of the most, one of the most abysmal spin offs of any Real Housewives franchise. She's also a Scientologist. She never talks about it. And they're both sending love and light. Love and light. And by the way, anybody who says love and light to you, consider that adjacent to the Buddha rule. Run. Run. Now also in the run up to this, what they call the high season in the Hamptons, which is like Memorial Day to Labor Day. And trust me, like, it's not fun. Because the minute, like it's probably the week before Memorial Day hits, like you can feel the air out here. It gets like a charge. And what happens is everybody who's coming out to vacation, they're either spending a shit ton of money to rent a place that's never going to meet their expectations, or they come out here every summer because that's what they do. There's this charge in the air that's like these people are going to have the most fucking fun they've ever had in their lives. And they are going to, I mean you see it at like four way stop signs. Like they're like the, the, the, the, the speed limit out here is like 30 at best, you know, and you, you'll get to a four, a four way stop and people will just blow through it because they gotta beat you to that fucking farm stand. And they're gonna get the last, you know, chicken salad at Round Swamp Farm where you know, like everything's like 50. Like you can't get out of there for less than $200. And like you're getting, it's a, it's a little basket. It's like, it's like 200 or you go, it's great, it's a great farm stand. But like it's really pricey or like they're going to like the beach. They got to beat you to the beach. They got to get the prime parking spot and the prime spot on the beach and get the out of their way. And like they're going to have the most fun. And I swear like when it's like July 4th, weekends especially, you don't want to be anywhere near this place. Because like people, I often describe any place that is a coveted or you know, you got to see and be seen there. I always liken it to the last train out of Berlin. Like pride, dignity, matters. Out the window. Out the fucking window. So, but you know, that's not what's covered. That's not the way that it's depicted out here. It's like you're supposed to want to be out here. Like you'd sell an organ to be out here. The Wall Street Journal magazine in the run up to this season ran a huge feature. I wish I had like ripped it out of the magazine because it's about a lawyer named Edward Burke Jr. And he is the guy, he is the go to guy. If you get busted for drunk driving. Now drunk driving is a scourge out here. Everybody out here, I'm not going to say everybody, I'm going to say like 80% of people, they're like, you know what, I'm rich, I'm famous, I'm privileged. I do what I want, I make the rules. I'm going to drive drunk. I don't fucking give a shit. I'm going to drive drunk. Catch me if you can. Catch me if you dare. I'll get out of it. And this guy, Edward Burke is the guy that you call, he is the guy that Justin Timberlake called last summer when he was busted in Sag harbor leaving the American hotel where he had been mine sweeping. Now this is allegedly minesweeping. This is a phrase that my British friends have introduced me to. Minesweeping is when you have finished your drink and you can't get another drink served to you fast enough. So you mind sweep, you start going to tables and plucking other people's drinks off of their tables and just slugging them back. And that's apparently what Justin was doing at the American Hotel and his mug shot went viral. And actually there's a little art gallery that's like a few doors down from the American hotel that had in its window an artist's like portrait rendering of JT's mugshot. And I remember standing there looking at it and this woman standing there next to me said, oh, I feel so bad for him. That's such a shame. Nobody should be exploiting him like that. And I was like, you feel bad for him, Feel bad for yourself. He's driving fucking drunk. He could have killed somebody. Don't drive drunk if you don't want your portrait hanging up like Andy Warhol doing you whatever It's a plague out here. And I'm going to tell you something else. This guy, Edward Burke, was shot, like. Here's just one version of, like, a photo of him, but the main image of him, he's. It's like Technicolor. And he's standing outside the Sag Harbor Cinema, which is like a beautiful facade in. In the middle of Main Street. And he's sipping, like, a 10 iced coffee in a $4,000 suit, I'm guessing. And he's smirking, and it's like, I'm your guy. Drunk driving. Drunk driving. I was horrified. My first summer out here. I was. My first real summer, I was invited to, like, a bonfire party. I've told you guys a little bit about this before. Probably in my first episode of the Nerf, the inaugural. But, you know, I was in. I was. I was introduced. This is. This is the kind of person who. There are really good people out here. I'm going to say that. They're really good people. They're really decent, good, fun people. You have to hunt them down, though. You got to find them. They're gems in a haystack. But I was. You get introduced to people, it's like, oh, hey, like, you should. You guys should meet, like, Maureen, this is so. And so, this is. Meet Maureen. And I was introduced to this person who's said, oh, hi, Margaret. And I said, oh, no, no, I'm sorry. My name is Maureen. Oh, hi, Margaret. This is the level of asshole you're dealing with out here. Or you're introduced to somebody, and it's like being at the D.C. correspondence Dinner, the White House correspondence Dinner, you're introduced to somebody, and they're like, sorry, someone talking to me? Anybody you know? These are. These are people who have no reason. Not that anybody has a reason to be that way. But we're not talking the rich and the famous and powerful. I mean, we're talking. Frankly, some people you would just. You don't care about. Now, I also want to say that vis a vis the drunk driving thing, at this same. Excuse me. At the same bonfire party at a beach in East Hampton, there were these two older women. And I mean, like, I'm not saying this in, like, a chronological, shaming way. There's no. We're. All our ages are our ages. But what I'm saying is they're old enough to know better. Okay? Most people should be old enough to know better. But I'm talking women who have been around the block, they were clearly in their 60s. They were drinking all day. It was obvious. They're sitting on this log and they're saying loudly, it's like 10 o' clock at night. Oh, we're going to head to Montauk. Apparently there's a rage or party at the Surf Lodge. And they're drunk. Oh, we're just going to drive over there. And everybody's just like, oh, okay. Like, everybody. Like, nobody. Nobody was like, you can't drive like you're drunk. That's. That's the mentality out here. You know, most sane people, if they find themselves out here on a major weekend like this, they hunker down, they don't go anywhere. Because it's assholes like that that have ruined a lot of what made this place great. This place. You know, I kind of love the lore of this place. The beauty of it, the natural beauty of it cannot be denied. And the piece that you really do find out here, and it's really great if you're like, like engaging in any kind of artistic endeavor. Like, I've written my books out here, and I have no doubt that, like, they turned out the way I hoped they would because of the environment, you know, because of how tranquil, and the way the sky turns color. And it's just, you can see why. I mean, real artists back before the Hamptons became this product, this product, this thing, this. This idea fix in this national psyche. You know, this was where Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner came when they got priced out in New York and they needed a place where they had space and room to create and paint. And Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner's house out here is actually, like, now, like on the National Historic Registry. I think it's a museum. You can go to the barn where Jackson Pollock did his drip paintings, like, came up with that. Like, the paint is still on the floor and the walls. It's amazing. Like, Willem de Kooning came out here. Truman Capote, John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck, by the way, whose house fairly recently went up for sale and it became this. It was this huge, huge, huge fight between the estate. John Steinbeck and his wife Elaine did not have children of their own, but Elaine had a nephew. And he, I believe, inherited the house. He wanted to sell it for profit. And the town really wanted to buy it and preserve it and use it as a writer's retreat for writers who really needed it. Not like established people, but people who, like, really needed a place to go and, you know, hue really to that literary legacy in history. And, you know, eventually they Reached an agreement, and that is what it is. And John Steinbeck's house, by the way, is very modest. It's in Sag Harbor. It's very modest. And it's like, there's a sense of proportion. There's a sense of, like, you need. You don't need a McMansion. You don't need to flaunt everything you have, you know? And also, I'm just gonna say this. This was another horror. This was another moment where I was like, I'm gonna struggle a bit to find my people. I am. Someone said to me, I'm gonna say, maybe it was my second year out here. Someone who I was an acquaintance with said to me, this is a person who's always looking around, and these people are very common out here at what's everybody else is doing and what everybody else has and is acquiring and then goes, how do I got to get that? I got to get that because I got to. To keep up. I got to keep up. And I was like, what are. Why. Why what is going on? Like, why do you feel this way? Why do you have to buy things you don't need? What are you talking about? Or that you can't afford? And this person said to me, because they'll think I'm poor. And in that moment, I said to myself, I. I cannot. I have to cut this person out of my life. I can't even be an acquaintance with this person, because this person believes that to be poor or to be economically struggling is a character flaw. And it means that you deserve your lot in life. And that people who struggle financially aren't just maybe suffering headwinds that they can't control or fallen down on hard times or come from nothing and are trying to build something. And this person, by the way, doesn't have money, but is always trying to keep up. And that is a hell of one's own making. And you'll never get out of it. Unless we forget. These are the kinds of people who beg for party invitations out here. Beg. Unless we forget. As discussed at the top of the show, one of the most sought after summer invites in the Hamptons lo these many years was Diddy's annual White party on the 4th of July. Just saying. Just saying. Now, my best examples, and I heartily recommend these because I loved them both and love them both of what it really is like and the kinds of eccentrics that this place can attract. And, you know, I mean, for better or for worse, but if you're interested in a fast summer, read Set in the Hamptons. And it's literary and it's smart, but it goes down just like a smooth, cold glass of iced tea. Read the Guest by Emma Klein. It's so great. I devoured it. I think it came out last summer. And it's about a young woman who is sort of rootless and she's like, roaming around the Hamptons and hooking up with guy to guy. And she starts at like a very high level, high net worth guy. And she's trying to always, like, obfuscate her background and who she is and what she wants and where she comes from. She's just trying to get into the scene. And the book is incredible. It's a slim book, relatively, but it's so smart and so enjoyable. And then Gray gardens, the incredible 1975 documentary by the brothers David and Albert Meisels. Now, this documentary is about relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Big Edie Beal and little Edie Beal. And they were discovered out here by someone, like, adjacent to the Warhol circle, I believe. And like, Jackie and her sister Lee were part of that for a bit out in Montauk. And they discovered the Beals were Bouviers who were living in disrepair in a crumbling, like, waterfront home in East Hampton. And, like, they had raccoons in the walls and they were both, like, they were both like, mentally ill, but they had style. They had real style. And, like, they would dress in like, these fur coats and like, little Edie could tie a scarf like no other. And they would wear makeup and they would. They loved, like, the raccoons. And they didn't understand that they were in disrepair. And so this documentary was made about them. And it's called Gray Gardens. And there is an iconic moment from Gray Gardens, which is the inimitable little Edie celebrating the fourth of July with a very special dance and a miniature American flag. And so to mark this fourth of July and this very special Hamptons segment of our fourth of July nerve, let's take a look at little Edie Beal dancing with the American flag. Here she is in, like, look at. If you could look at her, it almost looks like an old school bathing suit with, like, tights and like, arms to protect you from the sun. And then this long scarf, it's blue and white. Sorry, it's blue and red tied around her head. She's got white shoes on. So she's all in red, white and blue. I'll bet the suit really is navy. It's reading on camera as black and with the American flag spinning, spinning and twirling. And there's a sign, like off to the side that says something like, the greatest dancer, little Edie Beal. And if you've not seen Gray Gardens, I really encourage you to treat yourself. And if you have seen it, it's always great for a re watch. So those are my two little moments of nirvana for you guys. That does it for our July 4th edition of the Nerve. Be sure to check out the Mini Nerve this Saturday. Remember, the minis are on YouTube only so far yet, as Jamie Kern limo would say, we're dropping at 10am on Saturday, so meet us over there on YouTube and again next week. We're taking a little bit of a breather to settle our own nerves a little bit, you know, but we will be back full throttle on Tuesday, July 15th. In the meantime, you guys again, email me DM me, let me know what you're thinking, how your holiday went, what you'd like to see us do when we're back. And we will see you then, July 15th, Tuesday on the Nerve, where you will never get what we're about to say next.
- [78:17]
A
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- [78:56]
B
And hammocks for less.
- [78:59]
A
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