Jeff Bezos Hits Back Against National Enquirer For Alleged Blackmail Attempt | THR News - video Dailymotion

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The Amazon billionaire is hitting back against the tabloid and its owner, American Media, alleging that the publication tried to blackmail him by threatening to publish explicit photographs of both him and Lauren Sanchez-Whitesell.

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00:00Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has published a lengthy essay on the blog platform

00:05Medium alleging that the National Enquirer and its owner American Media Incorporated

00:09tried to blackmail him over explicit selfies. Bezos begins his post by writing,

00:14"...rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly

00:18what they sent me despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threatened."

00:22The billionaire, who announced that he and his wife of 25 years were divorcing in January,

00:26goes on to explain that that same month the Enquirer published an 11-page, year-long

00:31investigation into his relationship with Lauren Sanchez-Whitesell, wife of Endeavor

00:35executive chairman Patrick Whitesell. The explosive report contained intimate text messages

00:40Bezos had sent Sanchez-Whitesell and almost immediately questions arose as to how the tabloid

00:45could have obtained the correspondence. Alexa, how could you?

00:50In his post, Bezos says he launched his own investigation to learn how those texts

00:56were obtained and to determine the motives for the many unusual actions taken by the Enquirer.

01:01As it turns out, there are now several independent investigations looking into this matter.

01:05The tech mogul then writes that his team found out that AMI chairman and CEO David Pecker

01:09was apoplectic about the investigation and shortly thereafter they were approached with an offer.

01:14They said,

01:15However, Enquirer editor Dylan Howard then sent a detailed email to Bezos' legal and investigative team

01:35detailing nine images that the publication is prepared to publish in addition to a naked selfie

01:40taken while Bezos was still wearing his wedding ring.

01:43The email got my attention, Bezos writes, but not in the way they likely hoped.

01:47Instead, Bezos says he was willing to sacrifice personal embarrassment in order to point out

01:52a much more important matter.

01:54If, in my position, I can't stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can, he asks.

01:59Bezos explains that the extortion plot consisted of the threat that AMI would publish the personal

02:04photos unless he and his investigator Gavin DeBecker made a false public statement to the press,

02:08stating that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was

02:12politically motivated or influenced by political forces.

02:15Bezos is referring to headlines surrounding the publication of the Inquirer's initial

02:20investigation as being politically motivated, as AMI CEO David Pecker is known to be close

02:25to President Donald Trump, who has blasted Bezos on Twitter on multiple occasions.

02:29As part of their extortionate proposal, Bezos says that if he does not agree to the specific

02:33lie that the coverage was not politically motivated, the Inquirer will publish the photos,

02:37and even if he and DeBecker agree to it now, if they ever deviate from it, the photos will be

02:41published at a later date.

02:43These communications cement AMI's long-earned reputation for weaponizing journalistic

02:47privileges, hiding behind important protections, and ignoring the tenets and purpose of true

02:51journalism.

02:52Of course, I don't want personal photos published, but I also won't participate in their

02:56well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption,

03:00Bezos writes.

03:01I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out.

03:05Meanwhile, on Friday morning, AMI released their own statement, saying the company plans

03:08to investigate the claims made by Bezos.

03:10American media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story

03:15of Mr. Bezos, reads the statement, in part.

03:17Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the board

03:21has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims.

03:25Upon completion of that investigation, the board will take whatever appropriate action

03:29is necessary.

03:30To read more on this ongoing story, head to THR.com.

03:33For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lynn Rodriguez.

Jeff Bezos Hits Back Against National Enquirer For Alleged Blackmail Attempt | THR News

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