A former gossip columnist hosting an event meant to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly cut the cheese in a “prolonged” move in New York City on Tuesday.
The event, a press dinner for the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist’s 2024 presidential bid, devolved into a “shouting match over” the climate crisis after host Doug Dechert called the threat to the planet a “hoax,” according to Page Six.
Art critic Anthony Haden-Guest — who recently hosted his own funeral, which he referred to as a “dress rehearsal” — blasted the host as a “miserable blob,” adding that he was “fucking insane” and “insignificant,” the outlet reported. Haden-Guest is described by Page Six as Dechert’s longtime friend of three decades.
RFK Jr., who was in attendance, reportedly “watched calmly” as the verbal sparring broke out at the event.
Dechert later resorted to a “loud, prolonged fart” as he yelled that he was cutting one loose at the event.
The next day, the former gossip columnist reflected on the flatulence-filled act.
“I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence,” Dechert told Page Six, adding that he has “zero tolerance for the climate hoax scam nonsense in any venue that I am personally funding.”
The gas-laden episode occurred roughly one month after a poll found RFK Jr. with 15% support and 21% favorability among Democratic primary voters.
Kennedy, who is challenging President Joe Biden in the party’s primary, has seen interest in his campaign from a number of conservative figures, including ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon.
Dechert has publicly sparred with media figures in the past, reportedly threatening to punch a former Gawker editor in the face in 2008 and engaging in a fight with a former Page Six writer at a book party in 2006.
Haden-Guest, who told Dechert in the moment that he was “done” with him, clarified the next day that he would talk to him again. He told Page Six it’s not his first time getting into it with the ex-columnist.
“We are not quite the same politically, but that doesn’t affect relationships in the U.K. But I thought this was pretty ridiculous,” said Haden-Guest.
“Doug said it was a hoax and scam. A scam for who? Who is benefiting?” he added. “That’s not a political thing, it’s a human existence thing.”