Gay Talese Promotes New Book He Promised Not To Promote On 'Late Night'

Anyone starting to get dizzy?

Talk about unreliable narrators.

On June 30, The Washington Post reported that nonfiction writer and journalist Gay Talese had disavowed his new book, The Voyeur’s Motel, after The Post found factual holes in the reporting. Talese pledged not to promote the book, saying, “How dare I promote it when its credibility is down the toilet?”

Then, on Thursday night, the author appeared on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” resplendent in a sapphire suit and singing a very different tune.

“The Washington Post was wrong,” he told host Seth Meyers flatly.

The Voyeur’s Motel, which hit bookstores on July 12, centers on the Colorado man Gerald Foos, who reportedly spied on guests at a motel he owned and operated near Denver over the span of three decades from the late ‘60s to the mid-‘90s. Foos kept journals describing his observations, and he provided Talese access to his writings when the two met in 1980. (Talese also visited the motel and viewed guest rooms through the spy holes.)

The Washington Post reported that property records revealed Foos actually didn’t own the motel from 1980 to 1988, a fact that didn’t jibe with the timeline presented in The Voyeur’s Motel. Talese’s immediate response to those findings was to strongly distance himself from the book, saying, “I should not have believed a word [Foos] said.”

The next day, however, the author backtracked. In a statement from his publisher, Grove Atlantic, he said, “Let me be clear: I am not disavowing the book and neither is my publisher. If, down the line, there are details to correct in later editions, we’ll do that.”

On “Late Night,” Talese went into more detail about why he is standing behind the book after his initial comments. “The next day, I called the guy who bought the motel from [Gerald Foos], and he said, ‘No no, I bought the motel from Gerald Foos, but he still had access to it. He had the key.’” During the initial interview with The Washington Post, he explained, “I overreacted.”

In case anyone didn’t get the message, Talese doesn’t think the credibility of The Voyeur’s Motel is down the toilet. Oh, and he’s certainly going to continue promoting it.

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