Greater than 40 years in the past, famed Washington Publish journalist Bob Woodward printed “Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi,” a biography of the late comic that angered his widow and plenty of of his shut mates, together with Invoice Murray.
After the guide was printed, Rolling Stone reported that the guide turned controversial with Murray, Belushi’s widow and others as a result of it featured “432 pages of cold facts” concerning the late “Saturday Night Live” star, “the majority of them drug related and ugly.”
It’s clear that Murray’s anger has continued to simmer over the many years. It resurfaced in a latest podcast interview with Joe Rogan, adopted by a confrontation he had with Woodward that continues to be the speak of Washington, D.C., in accordance with a brand new report within the New Yorker.
The confrontation occurred in early March at a star-studded occasion on the John F. Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts, the New York Publish additionally reported. Murray and Woodward have been there with Invoice Gates, Warren Buffet, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and different luminaries to observe a screening of a brand new documentary on Katherine Graham, the Washington Publish’s legendary writer. Graham oversaw the paper’s protection of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, led by Woodward and Carl Bernstein, which got here to outline the paper’s golden gate.
However earlier than the occasion, Murray did an interview on Rogan’s podcast, throughout which he defined why he turned disenchanted with Woodward’s Watergate tales and even started marvel if he and Bernstein “framed Nixon.” Murray mentioned he was left to query Woodward’s journalistic integrity due to what he “did” to Belushi in “Wired.”
In 1982, 33-year-old Belushi was discovered useless of an overdose of heroin and cocaine on the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Belushi and Murray have been shut mates and starred collectively on “Saturday Night Live.”
Murray known as Woodward’s reporting on Belushi “criminal” and “cruel.” He mentioned, “I read like five pages of ‘Wired,’ and I went, ‘Oh my God. They framed Nixon.’”
“If this is what he writes about my friend that I’ve known, you know, for half of my adult life, which is completely inaccurate, talking to like, the people of the outer, outer circle, getting the story – what the hell could they have done to Nixon?” Murray continued, as he claimed that Woodward used sources for his guide who weren’t near Belushi.
Murray additionally mentioned that Woodward’s guide “tore down my friend. Just the title alone. It was cold.” He moreover instructed that Woodward’s unflattering portrayal of Belushi stemmed from jealously, saying that Belushi is probably the most well-known particular person from Wheaton, Illinois — whereas Woodward is just the third most well-known from the identical city, trailing soccer participant Harold “Red” Grange.
Woodward clearly bought wind of Murray’s criticism of him on Rogan’s podcast. After the screening of “Becoming Katharine Graham,” the journalist and writer, who gained a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Watergate, discovered Murray in a big gallery the place friends had drifted to a reception, in accordance with the New Yorker. He interrupted Murray whereas he was in dialog with Klobuchar to defend his work.
“Sometimes we learn by talking,” Woodward was heard saying, in accordance with the New Yorker. Murray turned away, and Buffet’s publicist shortly intervened. A photograph of the confrontation was shared on X by former Washington Publish reporter Ben Terris, who wrote, “Bill Murray and Bob Woodward had words about Woodward’s Belushi book tonight at the Kennedy Center.”
On Rogan’s present, Murray mentioned that Woodward requested to interview him for the guide however he mentioned, “I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I didn’t like the way it smelled funny from day one, you know.”
As Murray famous, Belushi’s spouse, Judy Belushi Pisano, initiated the undertaking, shared her diaries with Woodward and inspired her husband’s mates to speak to him, in accordance with Rolling Stone. Above all else, she hoped for a sympathetic biography. As a substitute, Belushi Pisano, who died final 12 months at age 73, slammed the guide, saying, “The man in ‘Wired’ is not the man I knew.”
Dan Ackroyd denounced the guide as “exploitation” and “trash,” whereas Jack Nicholson known as Woodward “a ghoul” and “an exploiter of emotionally disturbed widows.” Each Ackroyd and Nicholson mentioned they anticipated significantly better of Woodward. “Here’s a guy who has a reputation, right?” Nicholson mentioned, including: “I’ve obviously seen this kind of work before — it’s the lowest.”
As Woodward confronted a torrent of backlash from Belushi’s movie star mates, he insisted that his guide was true and that he relied on info to piece collectively his story — and to inform a bigger story about Hollywood. He informed Rolling Stone that the general public he interviewed couldn’t keep away from the topic of medicine when speaking about Belushi.
“Over and over, he would say that ‘Wired’ simply held a mirror up to Hollywood, but Hollywood was unable to look. Hence, the outcry,” Rolling Stone reported. Woodward additionally informed Rolling Stone that he was “sad and hurt” that Belushi’s widow was so upset. “But I didn’t go to her as a friend. I went as a journalist.”
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