Filed under: MSNBC, Journalism, Celebrities, Socialiting, Scoops, Gossip, Interviews, Keith Olbermann, Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, Rosie, White House, Perez Hilton, Politics, Gay, BHDC, Drag queens, Michael Musto, Mary Cheney, Anderson Cooper
Rosie O’Donnell calls him a gay Nazi. The Toronto Star calls him the Hunter S. Thompson of snark. Perez Hilton calls him his mentor.
We call him just another guy who hates bush.
Big Head DC recently caught up with legendary NYC columnist Michael Musto as he prepares to embark on a tour of Washington, DC to promote his new book La Dolce Musto, a gathering of his greatest hits from his popular Village Voice column over the past twenty years. Watch, love and learn, kids:
BHR: People probably best know you as the prince of celebrity pop culture, but sometimes you have Washington-focused items. Have you ever thought about leaving NYC to come here to gossip?
MM: Ah, there’s no way that’s gonna happen (laughs). I only can exist in New York, really. I know that there’s been gossips who’ve come out of DC to New York – and maybe did better in DC – but New York is just the milieu that’s right for me. I can’t drive. I don’t drive at all. I’m completely hopeless in any place other than New York City.
BHR: In your book, you recall an interesting time at the one of the Reagan inaugural balls. Have you been to any Presidential balls since?
MM: No. I was really a fish out of water in that case… It was the second batch of Reagan inaugural balls that I went to, I went to one of them, and I describe it as one of the eight circles of hell. I just didn’t belong. I had on a ratty rented tuxedo, you know, I was the only non-Republican in the room. I was trying to stuff myself on the trail mix. I think they called it shuttle mix. Yeah, I went running back to New York.
BHR: So you don’t feel comfortable here?
MM: Well, when I’ve gone there for nightlife jaunts, I’ve felt very comfortable. I’ve had a great time.
BHR: Mary Cheney has been in the news recently because of her pregnancy. Love her or hate her?
MM: Well, everybody’s always coming down on her, but I think it must be really difficult to be Mary Cheney. You know, she’s between a rock and a hard place. She’s a lesbian in a family that can’t be thrilled about the fact that she’s a lesbian, and her family has to act like they’re okay with it because she’s their daughter. Yet, they have to advocate public policy that seems to be against her way of life. So, I wouldn’t want to be her… She has to feel kind of like a second-class citizen in her own family. It’s easy to target her as a villain, but she’s in a very unenviable position.
BHR: What about Dick Cheney? Do you think he loves Mary or hates her?
MM: (laughs) I think he’s probably torn between the policies he’s chosen to espouse and the fact that she’s obviously a decent person and she’s his own flesh and blood. The good thing about Mary Cheney is that she holds up a mirror to the Republican Party’s own hypocrisy. And people keep reminding him and asking him how he feels about his daughter. He says it’s irrelevant, but it’s not irrelevant… If your own flesh and blood is a lesbian and has a family, then why shouldn’t she be afforded the same rights as anybody else?
BHR: Does Dick scare you at all? Read more…
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The CNN anchor took the Big Apple by storm yesterday to talk at a Reuters event held in his honor. Sources tell Big Head DC that after the event, Blitzer was seen at a popular local bar, waxing poetic about the good ole days he spent at the news wire service. And his lips became a little loose about his tenure at CNN. 