Monday, March 9, 2009

Ira Glass is an Asshole, Who Knew?

Because I was reading an interview with cartoonist/writer Lynda Barry I learned that Ira Glass of This American Life fame is an asshole. Would I have stumbled upon that revelation on her wikipedia page had I not been thirsting for information about female cartoonists? Totally unknown, but the odds drop precipitously. Especially given what old news this is. Still, I have fallen across the enlightenment, and now I'm not sure that I can listen to TAL without a needling suspicion of disingenuous-ness oozing from Glass like a slug on a window.
Feet of clay and all that. Still check it out via IG's wiki:

"For a time, he dated cartoonist Lynda Barry and moved to Chicago in 1989 to be with her. He called Barry his "little ghetto girl" and she does not remember the relationship fondly. Barry is quoted in a 1998 Chicago Reader article as saying of Glass, "I went out with him. It was the worst thing I ever did. When we broke up he gave me a watch and said I was boring and shallow, and I wasn't enough in the moment for him, and it was over." In the same article, Glass is quoted on his feelings about their breakup: "I was an idiot. I was in the wrong. About the breakup... About so many things with her. Anything bad she says about me I can confirm."[10] Barry has written a comic story about the relationship, entitled "Head Lice and My Worst Boyfriend," in her book One! Hundred! Demons!."

That goddamn charmer.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Lynda Barry...did you know that salon.com has a bunch of her comics on their archive site? Hi-larious (http://dir.salon.com/topics/lynda_barry/index.html).

Ira may have been an ass--at least he acknowledged it. ;) BTW, I was sure he was gay...

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

Thanks for the link, Gyp! Yeah, you know, I'm always one of these people that's late to the party, having just discovered Barry.
I didn't think that Glass was gay, but I figured that he wasn't an asshole. Good for him that he recognizes it, but really, it's like saying that at least Ted Bundy knew that he was a killer ;)

drollgirl said...

WHAT?!?!??!?! touchy/feely/sensitive/progressive ira is actually a prick and a big, fat meanie?!?!? what a jerk. i do not know lynda berry (sorry!), so i am going to check this out.

TheWeyrd1 said...

You gotta love it when someone actually owns their crap!

Kierstin Bridger said...

Perhaps he WAS an ass but perhaps he has evolved...I can't bear to think of him in a bad light...I love This American Life....but I have been warned and will look into further...interesting.

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

KB - We always expect men to change, to somehow be better. To evolve and become enlightened. I can't conjure one instance that would substantiate that belief. Yet, women the world over continue to dream, and project.

Matt Byrum said...

People do stupid and cruel things to others when they break up. They say and do things that when they get older see they were assholes. We can't change the bad things we do after they are done but we can feel remourse for doing so and that is almost all that can be done. You gotta move forward or you'll be stuck in even worse shit and not just take it as read from the view of one person, no matter how close, and look in depth on the other side as well.

Pp said...

Just met him at an event in NYC. Yep. Can confirm. My take after politely approaching him to compliment his work was at the end of the night when we were all leaving the bar. Pretty jerky vibes. I get that he probably doesn't want to be bothered, but I approached it with a, "Hey, do you mind, one quick second..?" Poopy. Was not expecting the jerk vibe at all, but did. Sigh .