We all know James Frey‘s side of the story by now. He can’t remember shit about his life because he was on crack, he’s not a journalist, yada, yada.
We know what Oprah, Jack Shafer, and James McManus think, too. But, the mystery man we haven’t heard from yet is Frey’s editor, Sean McDonald. Until today, when New York slapped the exclusive first interview up on their spankin’ site. (No competition with Us Weekly on either category.)
The article reveals that the writer and editor were close friends, caught fights at the Garden together, and went on secret fishing trips to Brokeback Mountain. Oh, wait, sorry. We were on crack this morning, our stories are all confused.
Anyways, Frey’s editor/BFF doesn’t apologize, or really offer any insight as to why other top Random House editors believed every word out of an ex-junkies mouth. He simply throws his betrayed, victimized a’la Paris Hitlon hands in the air.
McDonald offers neither explanations nor excuses for his delay in addressing his role in the scandal. ???I???ve been learning about all of this the same way as everybody else,??? he says. ???And it all bewildered me and confused me.???
???I was always working on the understanding that the story was true,??? he says. ???I did think every fact was accurate, and I never tried to push those facts beyond what was there.??? And now? ???I can???t deny that my faith in James has been rocked some in the past couple weeks,??? he says. ???I still think he???s a really talented writer. I think I should leave it at that.???
Except that Frey’s not really that talented a writer. The only reason the story was any good was because of all the crazy shit that was happening to him. That’s called being “a very talented story teller.” Which also translates to “a very good liar.”
The article also questions whether or not writers will continue to work with McDonald. Hey, why not, he turned that million little piece of shit of into a million little dollars, blog entries, and Op-Ed articles. Now that’s talent.
James Frey’s Enabler [Dave Itzkoff, New York]