A New Podcast Tackles the Richard Gere Rumor That Won’t Go Away

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From the Poltergeist curse to the Munchkin who apparently passed away by suicide on the set of The Wizard of OzHollywood is constructed on urban myths. (The latter has actually been extensively unmasked.) No legend has actually been giggled about more than the one including Richard Gere and a gerbil.

Yes, a gerbil. (This is a decent publication, so let’s simply state that in this legend, which has no basis in truth, Gere and the gerbil was familiar with each other extremely well eventually in the 1970s or ’80s.) Now, The Hollywood Reporter is going all the method down the bunny hole. Gerbila brand-new 12-episode investigative podcast from reporter Allen Salkin, goes into where the report originated from, exposes much of it along the method and asks why it declines to pass away 4 years later on.

“Many, many people heard this. Many people remember hearing it when they’re a kid, whether or not they did,” Salkin informs Newsweek “And the rumor has never died. I’m very skeptical that it’s true, but it’s an investigation in that way. It’s also an investigation of why. What can we learn from the durability of this rumor?” Salkin invested 6 years on the job, and he did it the old-fashioned method. He talked to genuine individuals, purchased unknown publications off eBay and went to Cedars-Sinai to ask concerns personally.

Amongst his finds: an evident earlier variation of the report out of Philadelphia, fixated newscaster Jerry Penacoli.

With a report this ridiculous on its face, the genuine concern isn’t whether it’s real. It’s what its remaining power states about Gere and how he’s managed it and, possibly more annoyingly, what it states about us, the ones who kept it alive. Salkin is likewise completely familiar with the paradox of calling his program after the important things. “I’m riding on the proven viral success of this rumor by naming the podcast Gerbil,” he confesses. “Perhaps though, like a vaccine, we’re taking some of the dead material and creating an inoculation for it.” Gere has actually just referenced the report in passing, as soon as priced quote in The Village Voice stating that reports like it are among the factors he stopped checking out press about himself. Easy to understand. As Salkin points out, Gere

‘s silence might be precisely what’s kept this thing running on its wheel.

“The lack of Richard Gere ever saying ‘I didn’t do it’ is also very interesting,” Salkin states. “Crisis communications PR was not in the ’80s what it is now. There’s almost a playbook now, and ignoring it is not usually a good idea.” The evidence is still airing. Salkin keeps in mind a current It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia comedy episode included a specific gerbil gag. “So, it has not stopped,” he states. “If ever, it’s like a PR teaching tool for celebrities—this is not the way to do it.” Whether Gere ought to resolve it is another matter. Anything he states might simply as quickly make it a larger story. One thing is clear: The report isn’t going anywhere. Which might have as much to do with Gere’s track record as it finishes with any gerbil. “Richard Gere is a wonderful humanitarian and a political activist, spiritual man,” Salkin states.

“Much to be admired, and I admire him. But when he was young, he was a d***.”

Salkin goes even more, recommending the report has actually formed Gere in methods the star will likely never ever police officer to. He thinks it “has motivated career choices and has infiltrated other parts of his life that are quite astonishing.” As for who began it, Salkin will not state. That response shows up in episode 12. The report about the report has long pointed to Sylvester Stallone, Gere’s temporary co-star in 1974’s The Lords of Flatbush. Stallone informed Ain’t It Cool News in 2006 that Gere was ultimately fired from the movie after encountering him. Salkin isn’t offered on a single perpetrator. He states he’s “very skeptical” that it was simply someone who began the report, “like Sylvester Stallone,” he states. “I really do think I know the answer.”

However it began, thanks to Gerbilthis report isn’t burrowing away anytime quickly.