Gay Talese Would Like to Profile Kevin Spacey
And not necessarily for the reason one might imagine. Plus more scenes from the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions Gala.
Gay Talese poses with Colson Whitehead.
By Angela Pham/BFA.
One night a year, the New York Public Library, the Beaux-Arts bastion of the city’s literary life, becomes a shade less public. It closes its iron doors and celebrates the writing world’s most esteemed personalities at its annual Library Lions Gala. Usually, it’s an unabashed celebration of writers and their works. However, this year’s festivities, held on Monday evening, were tinged with a palpable wariness in light of the still-mounting revelations of systemic sexual harassment, assault, and rape that have recently rocked the entertainment industry—and a growing number of others.
Veteran journalist and Library Lion Gay Talese conferred with New York Timesowner Arthur Sulzberger Jr. in one corner of Astor Hall before dinner. Talese, who has done as much as any writer to turn the magazine profile into an art form, broke away from his conversation to tell Vanity Fair about the one he would want to write right now.
“I would like to talk to Kevin Spacey,“ he said.
News had come that afternoon that Netflix was cutting ties with the House of Cardsstar after multiple men had accused him of sexual harassment, beginning with actor Anthony Rapp, who told BuzzFeed that Spacey made a sexual advance towards him in 1986, when he was 14.
“I feel so sad, and I hate that actor that ruined this guy’s career,” continued Talese, who possibly had not kept up with the growing scope of the accusations online. “So, O.K., it happened 10 years ago . . . Jesus, suck it up once in a while!”
Talese, visibly agitated, pressed on: “I would like to ask [Spacey] how it feels to lose a lifetime of success and hard work all because of 10 minutes of indiscretion 10 years or more ago.”
Gesturing to the roomful of media titans sipping champagne around him, he added, “You know something, all of us in this room at one time or another did something we’re ashamed of. The Dalai Lama has done something he’s ashamed of. The Dalai Lama should confess . . . put that in your magazine!”
Elsewhere in the room, filmmaker and V.F. contributing photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders spoke about recent allegations against photographer Terry Richardson, with whom he is acquainted. “I’m not surprised. It’s been flagrantly out there. His argument is it’s all consensual . . . I think the fashion world is very f--ked up. There’s probably a lot more out there than we think.”
Greenfield-Sanders had recently shot a portrait of director and producer Brett Ratner, just before the Los Angeles Times broke the news that six women had accused him of sexual harassment or misconduct: “It was like a day before the story broke. You can see it in the face.” When pressed on what exactly he saw, Greenfield-Sanders elaborated, “You can see this sort of anxiety that something’s about to happen. I was amazed when I got the picture back because it’s a very revealing portrait.”
Writers Michael Chabon and Zadie Smith.
By Angela Pham/BFA.
Despite whiffs of recent national tumult, the evening did not lack the literary conviviality expected of an occasion honoring authors Michael Chabon and Colson Whitehead, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw,Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, and director and playwright Robert Wilson.
As dessert was served, author Salman Rushdie gushed about the event. “This I do look forward to. I love this building and the people are always very special,” he said. “Last year was Harry Belafonte and Gloria Steinem—people you’d kill to say hello to.” When conversation turned to politics, Rushdie hit on a collective fatigue: “I would like to spend an evening without talking about President Trump. We’re all exhausted.”
Unfortunately for the author, politics was physically unavoidable due to the surprise arrival of Senator Charles Schumer and the hefty congressional security detail he brought with him. One flustered event staffer revealed that his attendance, though welcome, was entirely unexpected.
Novelist Zadie Smith told Vanity Fair why she looks forward to the event: “It’s a nice time to see old friends. Though I’m really here for Michael Chabon. He’s an old friend of mine and I don’t see him in the city very often.”
Chabon, who won the Pulitzer in 2001 for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, admitted that he had never heard of the Library Lions until he was nominated to be one. “I actually wasn’t aware of this until I got the e-mail,” he said. “I live on the West Coast!”
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