A story briefly published May 1 on msnbc.com about author James Frey’s interview with Vanity Fair magazine included some information that could have been unclear.
The Vanity Fair story reported that, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, a friend of Frey’s, told the magazine that Frey was sent a copy of The Smoking Gun’s 13,000-word report on the discrepencies in Frey’s memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” in advance of its publication on the Smoking Gun’s Web site. The Vanity Fair story says that Frey showed the report to Kilmer-Purcell. In an interview with msnbc.com, Kilmer-Purcell confirmed that he told Vanity Fair about the meeting between himself and Frey, and said the magazine’s depiction of the incident was accurate.
Smoking Gun editor Bill Bastrone told msnbc.com no one from the site gave Frey a copy of its report in advance; he said he did have a brief conversation with Frey before the piece was published to apprise him of TSG’s findings.
Vanity Fair magazine stands by its story and said that its Frey piece was “rigorously fact-checked” before publication.
The msnbc.com story also discussed Frey’s new novel, “Bright Shiny Morning.” Gossip blogger Mario Lavandeira, who is known as Perez Hilton, told msnbc.com that he spoke with Frey about his book and was happy to be the inspiration for the novel’s gossip columnist character. An excerpt from the novel, available on Amazon.com, outlines a history for the character that is similar to that of Lavandeira’s real life. Link
