| 词条 | A. J. Benza |
| 释义 |
| image = | image_size = | caption = |birth_name = Alfred Joseph Benza | birth_place = Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Gossip columnist, Television host | spouse = Virginia Folk | parents = | children = Rocco Benza Roxy Benza }} Alfred Joseph Benza[1] is an American gossip columnist and television host. Early lifeBenza was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, though he moved with his family to West Islip, New York on Long Island shortly after his birth. He has two sisters, Rosalie and Lorraine. After graduating from West Islip High School in 1980, Benza majored in journalism at C.W. Post College on Long Island. CareerDuring college Benza began writing for Newsday and was soon hired full-time as a gossip columnist for that paper and eventually for the New York Daily News. It was as a gossip columnist that he began appearing on E! Entertainment Television's The Gossip Show in the mid-1990s. This led to appearances on talk shows such as Geraldo, Hard Copy, The Montel Williams Show, The Maury Povich Show, and various other television talk shows. He was later fired from the New York Daily News by editor Pete Hamill.[2] Relationship with E!Soon after leaving the paper, Benza was offered a job hosting Mysteries and Scandals, a program detailing true crimes and scandals involving celebrities, which necessitated a move to Los Angeles. It was on this show that Benza popularized the catchphrase "Fame, ain't it a bitch," which later became the title of his autobiography. The show ran for three seasons between 1998 and 2000. In 2001, Benza had a short-lived late-night E! talk show known as A. J. After Hours; it was cancelled after low viewership and critical acclaim.[3] In the same year during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Benza slapped Stern staffer "Stuttering John" Melendez in the face, alleging Melendez was screening out positive listener calls about him. Melendez then made a prank call making fun of the failure of After Hours, provoking Benza further. The incident resulted in a lifetime ban for Benza from Stern's show direct from WXRK general manager Tom Chiusano (it can be assumed that it continued into the Sirius XM era of the show, as he has not appeared again).[4] In 2002, he starred in P.S. Your Cat is Dead!, a comedy film, starring and directed by Steve Guttenberg.[5] Recent appearancesIn 2006, Benza hosted the reality show Cold Turkey II on ION Television.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} He appeared as a co-host on the first five seasons of High Stakes Poker (along with Gabe Kaplan) on the GSN. He was replaced by poker pro Kara Scott for the show's sixth season.[6] He wrote an open letter expressing his discontent with network executives at GSN in a post on his blog titled "Flop turn and river of shit".[7] Benza also had an acting role as L.C. Luco in the 2006 film Rocky Balboa. Benza appeared on the sixth season of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, where he lost 12 lbs. In 2008, Benza appeared in Gimme My Reality Show, a reality competition series on Fox Reality that followed a group of D-list celebrities with previous reality credentials as they battle for their chance to shine with their own show. But, midway through the show, he walked away from production. He cited not wanting to have his young children subjected to cameras inside their home. In 2015, Benza's second book, 74 and Sunny—a memoir about his childhood on Long Island—was published by Simon & Schuster. The following year Benza turned his energies to film and executive produced So B. It, a film based on the award-winning YA book by Sarah Weeks. The movie premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in the summer. That same year he struck a deal with ReelzChannel to host Demons in the City of Angels and Case Closed with A.J. Benza. He is currently married and living in Los Angeles, CA, with his wife and two kids, Roxy and Rocco. ControversyHarvey Weinstein allegationsIn 2003, Benza became aware of Harvey Weinstein's affair with Georgina Chapman while he was married to his first wife. Upon discovering this information, Benza offered to provide Weinstein with gossip that would draw attention away from his affair. This was the beginning of a partnership between the two to preserve Weinstein's name.[8] When sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein began reaching the press in 2017, Weinstein reached out to Benza asking for his help.[9] He discussed paying Benza "up to $20,000 a month" to investigate the claims made against him.[10] Weinstein did not follow up on this offer.[8] Bibliography
References1. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-05-14-0105140143-story.html|title=Returning to high society|last=Lavin|first=Cheryl|work=Chicago Tribune|date=May 14, 2001|accessdate=January 14, 2019}} 2. ^{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/22/books/bk-25097|title=His Fifteen Minutes|first=ANN|last=O'NEILL|date=July 22, 2001|publisher=|accessdate=November 19, 2018|via=LA Times}} 3. ^Clearly, A.J. Benza don't belong to Mensa {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321150611/http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2001/may01/may28/5_fri/news3friday.html |date=March 21, 2006 }} 4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.marksfriggin.com/news01/7-23-01.htm|title=MarksFriggin.com - Stern Show News - Archive|website=www.marksfriggin.com|accessdate=November 19, 2018}} 5. ^[https://variety.com/2002/film/reviews/p-s-your-cat-is-dead-1200547497/ "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!"]. Variety, July 7, 2002. 6. ^{{cite web|url=http://benzaneat.blogspot.com/|title=BENZA...NEAT|website=benzaneat.blogspot.com|accessdate=November 19, 2018}} 7. ^{{cite web|url=http://benzaneat.blogspot.com/2009/10/flop-turn-and-river-of-shit.html|title=BENZA...NEAT: A FLOP, A TURN and a RIVER of SHIT|first=Aj|last=Benza|date=October 11, 2009|publisher=|accessdate=November 19, 2018}} 8. ^1 {{cite news|last1=Twohey|first1=Megan|last2=Kantor|first2=Jodi|last3=Dominus|first3=Susan|last4=Rutenberg|first4=Jim|last5=Eder|first5=Steve|title=Weinstein's Complicity Machine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/05/us/harvey-weinstein-complicity.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0|accessdate=February 6, 2018|publisher=The New York Times|date=December 5, 2017}} 9. ^{{cite news|title=Harvey Weinstein had complicit network helping him: report|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvey-weinstein-had-complicit-network-helping-him-report/|accessdate=February 7, 2018|publisher=CBS News|date=December 5, 2017}} 10. ^{{cite news|last1=Arnold|first1=Amanda|title=Harvey Weinstein Reportedly Tried to Hire Gossip Writer to Investigate His Accusers|url=https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/weinstein-reportedly-tried-to-hire-a-gossip-writer-last-year.html|accessdate=February 7, 2018|publisher=The Cut|date=December 2, 2017}} External links
11 : American infotainers|American autobiographers|Long Island University C. W. Post Campus alumni|American people of Italian descent|Living people|Writers from Brooklyn|Poker commentators|Participants in American reality television series|People from West Islip, New York|People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Year of birth missing (living people) |
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