You probably know Jared Paul Stern as the disgraced Page Six freelancer who was fired after extorting Ron Burkle back in 2006. Yes, as we all know, Stern was eventually cleared of all charges, though he was generally recognized by everyone (except those in danger of being named in his defamation suit) as a guilty ass, who skated free due to a lack of evidentiary support.

Indeed, back in January, the Post was quick to gloat over Stern's exoneration, brazenly skewering the Daily News for jumping to premature conclusions about his guilt, denying rumors of any quid pro quo arrangements at the Page Six and preemptively defending Stern as though their lives—and corporate bank accounts—depended on it.

Red-faced editors at the News were avoiding questions yesterday after claiming their paper had "first disclosed" details of the meetings between former Page Six contributor Jared Paul Stern and supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, which led to a federal investigation of Stern that's now been dropped.

Four months later, Stern has officially named the NYP as a defendant on his lawsuit, prompting the Post to pull a complete 180 and publicly recognize Stern for what he truly is: a "rogue former freelancer" and "disgraced journalist," whose case against his former colleagues is almost entirely based on a "homophobic" email sent by Ian Spiegelman more than three years back.

Best of all, following the laundry list of Stern's (apparently!) made up charges against the Post, the Sixers had this to say about the staffer whom they once defended so staunchly:

As outlandish as most of these smears and lies are, the biggest surprise in the affidavit is this statement: "Jared Paul Stern was known to be the least corruptible, most responsible and valued member of the staff."

Moreover, the NYP acknowledges that Richard Johnson once accepted a $1,000 "Christmas gift," but avows that it only happened once. And that Richard was very, very sorry afterwards.

Oh, what a difference four months makes…