It is terrible that I am less interested in blogger Kenneth Walsh’s report about the possibility of Thomas Roberts, the former CNN anchor and sometimes–The View panelist, co-hosting a talk show with Tori Spelling than learning Roberts and Walsh — who posted Roberts’ Manhunt photos back in 2007 after he took a job at The Insider — had a run in at a bar in Chelsea, which Walsh doesn’t divulge any of the details about, saying only, “Let’s just say I get the feeling that he might be ‘related’ to [off-her-rocker Real Housewives of NYC castmember] Kelly Killoren Bensimon. The whole thing was so bizarre, in fact, that my friend Jay texted me the following morning: ‘I cannot believe I had to leave so quickly after your Thomas Roberts Housewives reunion moment. … I kept waiting for Andy Cohen to pop up with a fistful of cards and start reading blog reader questions.'” Did I just ask a question? Sorry, forgot the question mark??. [K212]
malcanoid
Simple sentences = clarity!
Kyle
Who is this Kenneth loser?
Marcus
Wow. I so want to know what Thomas said to him.
I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.
menlo
What do you say to someone who deliberately tried to ruin your career for no apparent reason except for viciousness?
alan brickman
Kenneth Walsh = Typical jealous queen…
Jon
That was so poorly written that I’m not sure exactly what happened or whether I should care.
Scot
kenny in the who-gives-a-fuck is one of the worst and most immature bloggers on the web. Frankly, perez hilton(UGH) has more creditability. I believe kenny is in his 40s and yet such a fame whore. He’s also a racist who makes statements like “…of course he has a moustache, he’s Mexican,” when discussing Mark Sanchez.
If he would just grow up he’d have a…no, never mind, he’d still be a shallow, queeny little bitch.
FanOfThat
I’ve looked over his blog sometimes. Yes, he is a “fame whore” too much into all those unimportant new “celebrities” (mostly female), but I get the impression he’s actually a nice person.
rrr
I’d rather guys like Kenneth wouldn’t contribute to the professional downfall of other gay men, however Thomas played a part in this himself too. If a public figure sets up a profile with nude pics on a public hook up website he should expect that word will probably get out eventually.
clitoris hymen
Your ENTIRE first sentence is 14 LINES LONG! That’s part of the problem with this “story”.
frozen north
@RRR Yeah, bad things happen. But it’s usually because people eventually run into amoral, unprincipled screen-capturing douchebags.
Private pics are private for a reason. You only share them with someone you are interested in meeting. But some losers just need to keep the pictures for…what? posterity?
Anytime you screen capture an image that is blocked, vindictively release a video to youtube that you and your ex made, sell to a blog pictures you took secretly, etc you’re compromising your integrity and sloughing off little pieces of your soul.
rrr
@frozen north: If you are sharing pics with strangers on the internet then they aren’t really private regardless of whether you are reserving the pics for strangers you may potentially hook up with for a fuck.
People love juicy gossip and scandal about famous people and they love spreading it. That’s reality. Famous people should be aware of that take guard. That will mean the famous can’t engage in some regular things if they want to avoid the risk of public embarrassment, but there are a lot of upsides to fame that can make up for the restrictions. They have a practical responsibility to themselves to exercise due caution.
This wasn’t a case of Thomas trusting someone he knew and loved to keep personal pics, and it wasn’t case of him being tripped up by actions from before he knew he’d be famous or before the internet increased the spread of data. Thomas was already on TV, his main profession was news where respectability is really important, he had raised his profile in the gay community as a consequence of coming out, and he had announced he was in a longterm serious relationship. If you have fame and a lot at stake then it’s smart to find your hook ups somewhere less conspicuous than manhunt.
It’s not a nice thing to take actions that will damage another guy’s career, but we should acknowledge that Thomas had also taken actions that jeopardized his career by setting up the profile and making the pics available in the first place.
david
@rrr:
Obviously Thomas has to regret it, but he’s also not saying he’s faultless, so why mention it? Doesn’t mean you’re obligated to play nice with the guy who outed you.
rrr
@david: Thomas hasn’t publicly acknowledged any personal fault in the matter and the previous commenters were assigning all blame to a villainous blogger. That’s why I brought up Thomas’ role in it.
Nobody is obligated to play nice with anyone. Thomas isn’t obligated to play nice with Kenneth after Kenneth brought public notice to his manhunt activity. And Kenneth wasn’t obligated to play nice with Thomas when Thomas was distributing naked pics of himself to people he’d never met in order to cheat on his boyfriend.
Kenneth’s blog entry was done in blind item format and it didn’t come across as malicious. If most guys were handed naked pics of a celebrity they’d be excited about telling someone and sharing them.
Matt
@rrr:
I didn’t know Thomas was cheating on the boyfriend–I thought they had an open relationship…
irisgirl
I just want to note that I am a daily reader of “Kenneth in the 212”, as well as many other gay blogs, and I disagree with the disparaging comments made about Kenneth. Just exercising my 1st Amendment opinion here, so please don’t rip me a new one!
Franco
Who wrote this? It’s terribly written.
doobie
F for structure. D for content.
News
I work in the business and have known Thomas for years. I agree with @RRR, you have it right, 100 percent — Thomas was an absolute idiot for ever taking those pictures. And an even bigger idiot for posting them on manhunt. They will always haunt him and follow him around from job to job. They undermine his credibility…whether we like it or not.
Call Kenneth Walsh what you will, but it’s not like he snuck around Thomas’s backyard or swimming pool with a camera.
Trust me here gentlemen – we sign “morality” clauses in our contracts, and when you’re in this businesses, in front of the camera, you could do yourself harm by simply being seen drinking too much. Thomas knew this and took the pictures anyway, and then posted them. And in case you haven’t noticed, he’s a very good looking man. If he somehow thought the internet was going to keep his identity a secret… I say he deserves all of the trouble this has caused him and he needs to find a new line of work.
My guess is this had something to do with his trouble at the Insider, and without question, the folks at NBC have to be considering this now, as it looks like they are currently kicking his tires.
Marina Gipps
I have tremendous respect for Thomas Roberts, and I think this story is actually a “non-story”in the sense that there is more to Thomas Roberts than what is being portrayed here. It’s really a shame because famous people are always the target of others no matter how nice they may be. I have tremendous respect for both Thomas Roberts and MSNBC for distinguishing itself from other networks by having openly gay and brilliant hosts. We need to see this on every channel. More and more people should come out. People should forget this photo incident because it is not important in the whole scheme of things.
Gigi Gee
Dear Ryan Tedder:
Please ask my niece to help you with your next piece. She’s a much better writer. She’s 5.
Sincerely,
Gigi Gee
Gigi Gee
Dear Ryan Tedder:
Are you then RT of One Republic, and the man who wrote Rumor Has It for Adele? If so, you should be ashamed of this article. I stand by my comment above.
Sincerely,
Gigi Gee
CarlIsle
Why are Americans so freaked out about nudity? In the rest of the western world most people would look at the photos of Thomas and think HOT, not OMG I’ll never watch a show he’s on again because he posted nude photos of himself online.