Blogging on Meds

We told you earlier about Kate Moss’s hissyfit at MILK studios during an Agent Provocateur party—according to Page Six, she left because they wouldn’t let her bring three friends into the bathroom, citing a “strict one-person-at-a-time policy.” (So basically they suggested she was a cokehead!) But Ray LeMoine, a blogger was at the affair (which happened in early May) says this is bullshit: “the bathrooms at MILK were big multi-stall affairs, and plenty of sniffing was audible from the men’s pisser. There wasn’t an attendant or anything.” Also?

MILK also has a basement party room where Moss’ old hook-up Jamie Burke’s band Bloody Social (who were also at the party) practice, so I’m sure the coke party could have moved down there. Also, I’m sure MILK owner Madzac Rassi knows Kate Moss and would’ve accommodated her. Most likely, Kate left the party because it wasn’t that great.

More importantly, why did a month-old party take so long to make it into Page Six? [Photo: Medicine Agency]

Much thanks to Gawker for picking up my post about Page Six breaking a month-old, bogus sounding Kate Moss story. And really, what’s better than Kate Moss, Page 6, and Gawker?

Kate Moss has been a constant in my life since 97, freshman year of college, when she was on the walls of every Joy Division-loving art school/liberal arts chick in Boston. By far the coolest woman of our time, Kate Moss refuses to stop dressing amazingly, dating funny people, acting awesome, going topless in Ibiza, sniffing blow with a dude from The Clash on video, and causing other mini-controversies.

Upon hearing Moss was hosting the Agent Provocateur lingerie party on the roof of MILK Studios back in May, I of course went. Jim Jones was there with Damon Dash; over 500 people drank free booze on a rooftop overlooking the Meatpacking District. Thankfully, no Lauren Conrad/Gossip Girl-level celebs were there. Rather, in attendance were a lot of regular old New Yorker—people who go to cheap Indian restaurants in the East Village for dinner or email one another about sample sales. Hardly the fabulous-life set. After all, Agent P is owned by Vivienne Westwood’s son and maintains a punk style. (Despite the above Gawker headline, I didn’t find the party lame at all. It just wasn’t VF’s post-Oscar jam, or anything crazy great.)

A month later, Page 6 runs this story about Moss wanting to go into the bathroom with three friends and being denied. P6 says she threw a fit and alluded to her being a coke head. I’m all for Kate Moss’ coke use, but this tale seemed a little out of whack.

MILK is a photography studio, one especially known for high-profile fashion shoots. The world of fashion photography is no stranger to cocaine. To think the world’s foremost fashion model would have to make a scene at a place literally designed to accommodate her is highly unlikely.

Last year I interviewed MILK’s owner Madzac Rassi for a story I was writing, finding him funny, accessible, and intelligent. Further reporting proved he had an excellent professional reputation. Surely Rassi would be smart enough to make sure Kate f–king Moss, supermodel of supermodels, had a point-person from MILK on hand at an event she was hosting. Coupled with the fact that several people I attended the event with had dealings with the party’s sponsor, and none heard of any Moss antics, the whole “Kate waited 20 minutes angry before leaving” thing seemed dubious. Even Moss isn’t crazy enough to cause a scene at her own event. And if she was, the story would’ve probably came out a month ago, when the party happened.

Anyway, this P6 piece just seemed like a weird window into gossip reporting. P6’s use of the phrase “the other day” would likely have readers thinking it occured more recently than 32 days ago. And they spoke of MILK’s “one in the bathroom” policy. But, as a person who attends these events with an eye for debauched details, the bathroom scene is something I always scope out. MILK’s men’s room was located next to a stairwell. It was like a school lavatory, tan-tiled and functional, with urinals and stalls. A MILK guard stood outside by the stairwell. Two gay guys were certainly doing cocaine when I was in there.

Now, I love Page 6—there’s no single more influential or entertaining news column—but here is a case where you wonder who the “spy” was and why/how this “story” came to light so late. So I wrote what I saw and thought.

Thankfully, there is an institution dedicated to probing media’s murkiest zonas. Gawker, for all it’s sarcasm, is a vital news source that has helped bring transparency to an industry known for “anonymous sources.” Gawker has a reputation for being harsh, unfair, and using questionable journalistic ethics. Yet over the past few months they’ve ran three posts from Med A and, in each case, Gawker were actually more professional and accomadating than they had to be. Sometimes you’ll read on Gawker “we don’t use fact checkers” but with us they have fact checked. And they’ve been open to dialouge like traditional news editors. All of this came as a surprise given the soiled reputation Gawker has. It goes to show that by attacking the media, Gawker’s been the subject of unfairly biased coverage.