IS THAT YOU, PIERCE, OR JUST A BRILLIANT DISGUISE? From A “Pink Spring” To A Precipitous Fall
Oh how the self-appointed mighty have fallen.
For example, take Pierce O’Donnell.
Go ahead, take him…before the feds do.
In a February 25, 2022, email to David McCraw, Senior Vice President & Deputy Counsel of The New York Times, O’Donnell appeared to channel the late, great James Brown in the Godfather of Soul’s best (and most enduring) song: “Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing”.
McCraw, responding to O’Donnell’s February 22, 2022 letter regarding the “In Orlando, 25 Mysterious Basquiats Come Under The Magnifying Glass”, stated The Times would publish a correction, based in part on communication with a lawyer representing Dr. Jordana Saggese.
Saggese, made newsworthy by soon-to-be fired Aaron De Groft’s “stay in your limited lane” dickwad email, had recently scuttled away from what O’Donnell asserted was a full-throated endorsement of the “lost Basquiats” purportedly contained in Saggese’s November 30, 2017 “Report on Basquiat Venice Collection”.
Here’s an excerpt from Saggese’s report:
“This report deals with seven paintings owned by the Basquiat Venice Collection Group (“BVCG”) which has commissioned this report. As discussed below, BVCG states that it purchased these seven paintings, along with another 20, in a 2012 auction of the contents of the storage locker leased by the renowned television writer, Thaddeus Q. Mumford, Jr. There is evidence that suggests Mr. Mumford purchased the paintings from Jean-Michel Basquiat in late 1982 and early 1983 when he was living in Venice, California. The owners have characterized the group of paintings as the Basquiat Venice Collection. The paintings, when acquired were untitled; names were assigned by the Basquiat Venice Collection Group.”
Responding to McCraw’s letter, O’Donnell trotted out the patented bluster that he’s used to survive in the legal world: if the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.
In making his case, O’Donnell states that in addition to “three unimpeached written expert opinions” (all paid for by O’Donnell on behalf the BVCG), he also has the “opinion of Dr. Aaron De Groft, a distinguished art historian, curator, and museum director, who independently investigated the 25 paintings’ authenticity and stands by his decision to exhibit the collection.”
Wow!
Talk about sinking your own ship — glub, glub, glub!
