Radar conspiracy theories

Ah, the circle of life. Last month, RadarOnline reported that Anna Wintour may have had a hand in the demise of V Life; now Page Six reports that various power players– namely Michael Ovitz, David Pecker, Bill Clinton, Jeff Berg, and Ron Burkle– may have contributed to the demise of Radar. See, magazines never fail for quotidian business-y reasons– you know, low readership, not enough advertising. There’s always a hidden conspiracy. From Page Six:

Over the last year, our sources claim, both Zuckerman and Epstein were besieged by calls from power players distressed over Radar’s snarky coverage of them, including Hollywood’s Mike Ovitz, American Media honcho David Pecker and secretive supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle. All three personally lobbied Zuckerman and Epstein to quash salacious stories, insiders claim.

One media source tells us: “Ron Burkle’s lawyer, Marty Singer, threatened to sue them. And Burkle, who is a major investor in Barnes & Noble, had one of the biggest magazine distributors in the country call to tell them it wouldn’t be in their best interest to write about Burkle after they reported a story about him hosting Michael Jackson at his house. Bill Clinton [a friend of Burkle and also Epstein] also called [Epstein] and demanded they not write about him and Jackson. They still did.” Singer confirmed the legal threats against Radar to PAGE SIX and suggested there may be more litigation in the works.

Of course, everyone denies everything. But that just proves it’s true. Bonus brain teaser– which Radar contributor, known for his reportage on and tangling with Scientology, is the likely source for this nugget?

One Radar staffer offered an outrageous conspiracy scenario: “The theory going around is that the Scientologists put the fear of Xenu [an evil space alien in the Scientology creed] into [Zuckerman and Epstein]. Scientologists have been digging into Epstein’s and Zuckerman’s private lives, and have thick files on both of them. Who knows what’s in them?” Earlier this year, Radar published a scathing cover story about Tom Cruise and Scientology. A rep for the Church of Scientology dismissed the account as “a complete fabrication.”

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