Monday, May 21, 2018

Andy Warhol's INTERVIEW to Cease Publication


Sad but not at all surprised to read that Interview, which served as my bible as a New York City-obsessed gay boy growing up in the suburbs of Phoenix back in the '80s, is shutting down after nearly 50 in print.

The New York Observer reports that the magazine Andy Warhol founded in 1969 has been embroiled in its own tabloid drama over the past few weeks, ever since former editorial director Fabien Baron sued the magazine for $600,000. The Observer says Baron resigned in April after nearly 10 years at the publication. He said in court papers that he had been hired to save the magazine in 2009 -- and he did, upping the circulation to over 200,000 subscribers. But Baron now claims the company stiffed him on over $500,000 in invoices over the last three years. Interview also allegedly owes his stylist wife, Ludivine Poiblanc, $66,000. Many others are owed money by the publication -- which The Observer says has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy -- to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.


A wall of Interview magazine covers is seen at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

I haven't read Interview in ages -- yet somehow that issue with Molly Ringwald on the cover feels like yesterday to me -- but for years subscriptions to it were my go-to Christmas present for my friends. (I got it delivered for most of the '80s and bought 1970s back issues whenever I could afford to.) And I will always remember it as one of the best sources back in the day for stories about my favorite actors, singers and "It" boys and girls. RIP -- and I hope everyone who did work for the mag gets paid!

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