Hush money and the economy of secrets.

View in browser  |  Your newsletter preferences  |  Not yet a subscriber? By Eve Sneider | 04.01.23 Calling Hollywood's sex tape king Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton. A staged documentary called American Cannibal. Storage unit auctions. Amanda Chicago Lewis' 2021 feature, Sex Tapes, Hush Money, and Hollywood's Economy of Secrets, is one of those highly specific, borderline absurd stories that is, actually, stranger than fiction. The story chronicles the uncanny rise and seedy workings of a man named Kevin Blatt who made a name for himself as a self-proclaimed celebrity sex tape broker. You can't make this up. Rereading this story two years after its publication makes me feel a tiny bit nostalgic. Not because I have any fondness for Blatt or his wares, I promise. But this was the first article I worked on as a WIRED fact-checker, and ended up being a crash course in how unsettling and silly and ethically thorny it can be to confirm every detail in a magazine feature. It's strange to talk to powerful men about their questionable Hollywood dealings as a young woman who came of age in the early 2010s. The acronym NSFW takes on a different meaning when you've had to look up porn on your company-issued laptop.  Working on this story introduced me to a whole new way of reading, and of thinking about writing. I had to withhold judgment in ways that were challenging. I had to scrutinize the same ideas and sentences so many times it was dizzying. I had to ask Blatt to describe an array of unsavory acts, and then I had to ask him about his preference for classic rock and flat caps. Lewis could have opted to moralize at length about Blatt's chosen line of work, and the sex tape industry in general. But the brilliance of her feature is that, while she doesn't shy away from the more troubling aspects of this story, she doesn't get preachy with readers, either. This was instructive, too. I'm genuinely curious about what readers' prevailing takeaways from this story are, and I'm guessing they vary pretty widely. Tell me yours in the comments below the article. See you next week! Eve Eve Sneider, Deputy Ideas Editor Read The Full Story Originally published in February 2021. SUBSCRIBE TO READ THIS STORY  Sex Tapes, Hush Money, and Hollywood's Economy of Secrets Meet Kevin Blatt, the celebrity fixer who's a master at shepherding compromising material off the internet—or into the hands of the highest bidder. You Might Also Like Meet the Superusers Behind IMDb, the Internet's Favorite Movie Site Powered by obsessed film buffs, it's a crowdsourced juggernaut that's older than Google and Wikipedia. Now AI is threatening to steal the starring role. The WIRED Guide to Influencers Everything you need to know about engagement, power likes, sponcon, and trust. Inside the Pricey War to Influence Your Instagram Feed Instagram, YouTube—you name it. Influencers are being paid handsome sums to pitch you products in natural settings. That video you just watched? $50,000. The Bruce Willis Deepfake Is Everyone's Problem There's a fight brewing over how Hollywood stars can protect their identities. But it's not just actors who should be paying attention. The Case for More—and Better—Sex Scenes You actor Penn Badgley has reignited a debate about onscreen sex and nudity—one that totally misses the point. Clearer and wronger Last week, Classics revisited Kevin Kelly and Gary Wolf's 1997 essay on push media. Rereading the article, Kelly writes, "Overall, I was impressed by how muddled, contradictory, and mumbling the piece was. Our analysis was too disjointed and because of that, I don't think it influenced anything by its opaqueness and McLuhanesque riddles. I would have preferred being clearer, even if wronger." But, he adds, the future scenario vignettes in the essay were "pretty right."   Tell me about your favorite WIRED stories and magazine-related memories, and each week I'll feature one of you here. Write to me at eve_sneider@wired.com, and include "CLASSICS" in the subject line. Or, simply join the conversation by posting a comment below the article. GET WIRED Get WIRED for just $29.99 $5. Includes the print edition plus editor in chief Gideon Lichfield's column, System Update. Subscribe now. Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   This email was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our email address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions   Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.