Apparently Mike Arrington (TechCrunch) was on the “B” list for review copies of the Palm Pre and decided to be huffy with Leo, who let him have it back. At some point people need to realize that Mike Arrington is indeed a douche. He once stiffed us at Cranky Geeks, never showed up and never apologized or even bothered to call. It was pretty amazing, unprofessional and inconsiderate. This BS about Leo slanting his opinion based on having a loaner is laughable.
What irks me most about this guy is his constant assertions that he gets never-ending death threats. Why? For what? I do not want to trivialize death threats as I have had them when writing Op-Eds for a daily newspaper and reporting on gun control and Middle East politics. I’ve never gotten any for writing about tech. And I didn’t hole up when I got them years ago for other commentary. So what is this all about Mike?
GO LEO!!
Give it to him!
I have followed Leo for years and have the highest respect for him. His handling of the situation was over the top, but we all have days like that…
I knew there was a reason I had been avoiding Arrington and his writings: now I know why.
He has apologized, but it doesn’t excuse him being an arrogant asshole in general. He is an incredibly abrasive character. Fine… but there are ways to be that way and NOT be arrogant and insulting.
I think it’s too bad this happened, but I applaud Leo for putting Arrington in his place; and I hope Mike learns something from this experience.
Leo has gone off on some occasions but to say something like this to him really questions his integrity at his profession. Something like that can easily ruin someone’s career.
If this had been the first time MA had said something like that, it would be answered in a straight forward manner but since it’s not and MA does have an apparent axe to grind with Palm then to even ask the question without sufficient prefacing to make it clear it was just a question about his source and NOT his review was improper, poorly thought out and ultimately rude. Indeed, it seems to take Leo a second before he realized the implication of what AND HOW he was asked about his Pre. When that realization hit him he did the on-air equivalent of responding with overwhelming force.
Luckily for him, podcasts are not governed by FCC rules so he can’t be fined by them or he surely would have been.
LL has given much to the tech community since before I saw him first on ZDNet TV. Even if you think anything he did was wrong on this, he’s owed at least one so this can be forgiven. MA on the other hand may have just gotten his first and last non-warning and I hope Leo, who’s accepted his apology, refuses any further working relationship with him for the foreseeable future. At this point, MA has too much of a pattern for LL to risk any even accidental improper implications being thrown his way.
Amazing how leo retains his dignity even while spewing four letter words.Never once raises his voice.What I would give for that composure.
You don’t know why Arrington gets death threats? I would guess he gets death threats because he’s douche…forest for the trees Dvorak…
Haha, go Leo!
And, Mike who?
A well deserved F bomb. They shouldn’t be on the TWIT network.
I think the key here is Arrington’s “What are you going to do about it?” comment. Clearly antagonistic, and clearly catching Leo at a a bad time. Unfortunately, Leo took the bate and lost it.
Lesson learned: Leo is human.
Onwards and upwards, boys!
danggg Leo. really went off on him. sweet
Leo is my hero and so are you, John – it’s time that PR people called this poser out – if only they had the guts and weren’t so worried about “show and tell” placements w/clients (i.e. PR posers).
PR peeps – you out there? You hear me? We all know what a creep this guy is – time to tweet.
Leo is high quality. Arrington is a dick. Everyone knows it. Arrington walks around like a king. Leo took the offense to give it to Arrington because Arrington deserved it all. Arrington tried to bully Leo. Leo delivered the knock out blow.
Not one single person in Silicon Valley likes Arrington. He has a bunch of nuts working for him. No one wants to work for and with Arrington.
Gillmor is an ass. The fact that Arrington hires him is a joke. Gillmor’s content sucks and he’s laughing during this clip. No doubt Gillmor planned this.
Arrington and Gillmore are jerks and Leo shouldn’t associate himself with such jerks and assholes.
Arrington is an asshole. Leo didn’t handle himself as he usually does. He overreacted.
Just some FYI for all those who have only seen the clip. Apparently it was all a big misunderstanding with Arrington being in the wrong for his line of questioning and Leo for his overreaction.
Mike and Leo made up, but Steve might still be hurt, since Leo shut his show down. Steve has apparently deleted the Gillmor Gang page from the TechCrunch site (for who knows why), and Mike has deleted his FriendFeed ‘techcrunch’ account.
Arrington tweeted a link to the audio of the ‘make up session’ that they did an hour or two after the ‘blow up’.
http://twitter.com/arrington/status/2071843006
And here’s the direct link to mp3:
http://ia311238.us.archive.org/3/items/NewGillmorGang/GillmorGang2009.06.06.part2.mp3
Leo replayed the video of both parts of the Gillmor Gang at least twice over Saturday night into Sunday morning before his radio show.
The untaped parts of TWiT on Sunday before and after the show had lighthearted/playful discussion of the incident. However, the mob mentality has apparently spun out of hand and while Mike may or may not deserve the ridicule I would think that Leo would not want anyone acting on his behalf.
So if you’ve got a beef with Arrington, fine. Now seems to be the best time to air it while everyone’s piling on, but don’t do something on behalf of Leo because he probably doesn’t want you to.
As the video shows, he’s a big boy and can stand up for himself.
This reminds me of when I was a kid and I first found out my parents were getting divorced.
Whats been going on in the background that we dont know about?
Its all fun and games for we, the readers, but this is a ill omen.
No good can come from this.
“He has apologised”
Yeah, he apologised. On his blog. With his ad revenue chuggin’ away.
+1 Laporte for calling MA out.
-1 Laporte for apologising on MA’s blog.
+1 Palm for recognising TC as a bunch of no talents regurgitating drivel, for they have zero skills and very, very limited knowledge on what they review.
Made my day.
DO…NOT…FUCK…WITH…LEO!
End of story.
Leo, like most progressive libs, have extreme anger just below the surface. Arrington sure is a douche, but Leo can’t seem to handle much.
Leo should have let all those GG guys stew for a couple of days. Serves Arrington right for Leo’s blow up. Leo didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. He’s lucky it wasn’t my gear hosting his show or they’d be banned for life (chat room included). What a jerk.
What a damn shame he went back with his tail between his legs. The show sucks anyway.
You will never find me defending Michael Arrington (not sure why he’s so hyped up, I didn’t hear about him until I heard about him being hyped up for being hyped up, sort of like the Paris Hilton of Web 2.0?) BUT, in this particular exchange, I am sorry, I think Leo Laporte was out of line, unprofessional, and just lost it.
That does not excuse any and all things Arrington may be guilty of.
Sure, this means I will never get interviewed by either one (LOL) or you for disagreeing. LOL. I gotta come up with my own hype mechanisms then.
All the best.
Imran
Will Your Life’s Work “Live, Forever”?
It Will, At http://neternity.org
That rocks! I have always thought of Leo as that really cool techie uncle I never had. And I agree with many people above that it’s *very* odd to hear him swear but it was warranted. Go Leo! Arrington is a douche bag and deserved everything he got.