Neal Boulton is the editor of Genre, the gay men's magazine, and something called BastardLife.com, a bisexual men's web magazine. Clearly the man has a thing for mixing media and gender identity, as the various "anonymously sourced" items about Boulton's NYC sexing — which reek of having been planted by Boulton himself — also suggest, as does his former editorship of Men's Fitess, which is basically a magazine for straight guys to ogle other guys. Not terribly surprising, then, that his on-and-off (and back on) partner for the last 16 years, Claire, used their sometimes open relationship to sometimes enjoy the company of other women while her husband was off dabbling with homos. And now, like The Pregnant Man, they're on a road to sharing their story with the world. Read on, America, for the next great chapter of the GLBT movement. CONTINUED »
QUEERTY: Gay people are mad at Out owner Paul Colichman for saying he won't endorse Barack Obama. Neal Boulton, who works for rival Genre, said, "By tearing up his check for Obama, he basically wrote one to McCain." Boulton doesn't really care, of course - he just wanted his name in an item about Barack Obama. CONTINUED »
Last night Keith Kelly, and all those other Kellys, held court at Michael's for their annual Kelly Gang fundraiser. This year they were donating funds to the Krabbe Disease-focused Hunter's Hope Foundation, founded by Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly and his wife Jill for their son, Hunter.
It was St. Patrick's day, which meant lots of wearing green, stepdancing, and drinking, though that last one would've happened with or without the holiday. Publicists arrived in crowds, all there, as one publicist put it, to pay homage to and curry favor with the Post columnist. Receiving lines are cute.
A dapper Rick Stengel, Time's editor, took our drink order, but it took Time Inc. publicist Betsy Burton's wrangling for us to get it. Keith Kelly's hair had been cut recently; at least one of his kids was running around in a "Kelly" jersey. Kent Brownridge wanted to talk about a certain dragon tattoo story; new bride and Hearst publicist Alexandra Carlin did not.
New York's Jesse Oxfeld explained his birthday plans. In Touch's Dan Wakeford delivered punchlines in his British accent. Genre editor Neal Boulton shared quality time and sweet nothings with former Star editor Joe Dolce, who was all smiles and says he's working on something big but can't say what. (NB: Every unemployed person says that.) New Freud Communications queenpin Lisa Dallos tossed around bread rolls with Ron Perelman's rep Chris Taylor. Us Weekly chief Janice Min looked like she just stepped off the Photoshop screen of her photo chief (that's a compliment).
And then, toward the end of the evening, when AMI editorial director Bonnie Fuller made her too-late-to-be-fashionable entrance, Min was suddenly absent from the table she had been sitting at. She could be found standing toward the back of the restaurant, engaged in conversation. With someone else.
[Photo]
Genre editor and HX consultant Neal Boulton is back with wife Claire, moving into their old place in Brooklyn and going on dates together. Boulton, who has said there aren't enough numbers on the Kinsey scale to pinpoint his sexuality, has also recently been seen by our spies making out with women at bars in Chelsea. So these days he's straight, if not entirely monogamous. Then again, he has a history of not being straight … with readers, at least. [P6]
DOUBLE DIPPING Former Men's Fitness editor and pseudo-gay Neal Boulton now has his hands in two homo rags: Genre and HX. What's next — Out's Aaron Hicklin running The Advocate? [Queerty]
• Zac Efron dresses up as Katie Holmes for Halloween.
• And speaking of makeovers, Neal Boulton's apparently tired of people confusing him for a lesbian rocker circa 1993.
• If Gisele Bundchen was photographed picking her wedgie today, does that mean Bar Refaeli is going to be photographed doing the same thing tomorrow?
• Collagen injections are just like potato chips: you can't have just one. Unlike potato chips, however, if you don't get your fill you'll end up with a pursed pucker that resembles a "deflated balloon."
Neal Boulton wants a nonsexual cameo in Michael Lucas' next pornography flick, presumably to go with his nonsexual relationship with Jann Wenner. [Queerty]
• Michael Jackson looking almost…presentable.
• Rumor has it there were massive layoffs at Seventeen magazine's production department. Unfortunately, staffers were too busy discussing last night's Gossip Girl to confirm/deny.
• Tired of living in a bubble where Out, The Advocate and HX don't exist, Neal Boulton takes it upon himself to create the first-ever magazine written exclusively for gays.
• It's all relative, but at least magazines are doing all right. Well, sort of.
• Fact: More than three times as many black people live in jail than in college dorms. Also a fact: the aforementioned "fact" doesn't take into account college students who live off campus. Or commute to school. Or, well, anything.
• Vanessa Hudgens makes her first post-scandal appearance; everyone tries their best not to blatantly stare at her crotch.
• You've tried the search, now try the smell. Introducing Google: For men.
Whether he's playing it straight or gay, or editing Men's Fitness or Genre, one thing is clear: Neal Boulton likes chiseled abs on his covers. [Queerty]
Remember One Park Avenue, the American Media reality series that never got off the ground? (Trust, it was for the best.) The above promo takes us back, with then Star leader Bonnie Fuller telling us about "what it takes"; David Caplan, before he decamped for 24Sizzler.com, on how the tabloid biz is like high school; and a Star staffer who insists she "looks forward to coming to work."
Oh, and there's former Men's Fitness and current Genre chief gay Neal Boulton talking about how much he loves his job — because he's "around hot sexy women all the time, partying my ass off."
Excuse us for doing this, but: ROFL.
[Note: The show's lawyers asked us to take down the video. They were very nice, so we agreed and will cherish memories of what counts as one of Boulton's straightest moments.]
Accept this as evidence that some editors-in-chief understand the importance of a sleek editor's letter photo. While Avery Cardoza may not, new Genre EIC Neal Boulton does. Enter Exhibits A and B from his recent photoshoot for his gay mag debut.
We're immediately forwarding this post to Jann Wenner with the subject line, "See what you've been missing?"
When the sometime-Jann Wenner paramour isn't at Genre's offices, he can be spotted training at Trinity Boxing on Greenwich Street.
(Oh, we thought you answer to the headline question was "Yes." Sorry about that.)
As Neal Boulton tells it, he just called up Window Media president David Unger and said, "Let's relaunch Genre." A few brainstorming back-and-forths later, and the former Men's Fitness editor ends up taking over Genre magazine today. Or something.
Neal has already changed the out-going voicemail message on the line of Chris Ciompi, Genre's editor until this morning. (We checked in with him, who would only tell us he's in the middle of Harry Potter.) And even though Ciompi just closed the September issue last night, to Unger's approval, the bossman wanted him out right away. Ten minutes after Ciompi met with Unger, Boulton was in the door and celebrating with food all around.
So what's Boulton's course of action?
Word is coming in that Genre EIC Chris Ciompi – boyfriend of Rush & Molloy junior gossip Patrick Huguenin – has just been axed from his role. His replacement? None other than former Men's Fitness chief and Jann Wenner sometime plaything Neal Boulton. No word yet on why Chris was given the boot – and Genre's phone answer people tell us he's "out of the office" – but one source says Genre-owner Windows Media is declaring bankruptcy for the division so they don't have to make good on their bills (office rent, freelancers). That leaves Genre to move in with corporate cousin HX, which might explain why they just got rid of their sales staff.
Regarding that rumor of Neal Boulton running around LA filming a reality show, the ousted Men's Fitness editor himself writes in to clear things up. CONTINUED »
So much for sometime-Jann Wenner boytoy and ousted Men's Fitness editor Neal Boulton taking time off "to write a book and pursue his humanitarian issues, such as obesity." Well, if this inbox stuffer is to be believed.
"Insane," says an unverified tipster. "I watched today as (a thinner) Neil [sic] Bolton was being followed out of the William Morris offices by what appeared to be a film or TV camera crew (with a sound boom etc.), Documenting his every move (a reality show?). He's such a megalomaniac: ever since Bervovici and Ives wrote that he was the one breakout star of the failed show One Park Avenue he's been hoping he would get picked up by a show. Even more fucked up, when a tourist stopped him to take his picture, he did, giving her his big stupid 'Gay-Tom-Cruise' smile."
What's wrong with this unsolicited info? First, that anyone outside (or, for that matter, inside) this industry would recognize Neal Boulton. And we're going to leave it at that.
Remember last week when TMZ* blew the lid off of Andy Roddick's (superimposed) tree-trunk arms? Well apparently, AMI prez David Pecker was less than thrilled about all the negative publicity. And so, he did what any of us would do: publicly insinuated Bonnie Fuller was to blame, and tattled about her super long lunches crappy interview skills and her inability to copy-edit. Like, at all.
Sources told Page Six that AMI chief David Pecker "went crazy" on editorial director Bonnie Fuller Friday morning. The rant came after Pecker read Keith J. Kelly's Media Ink column in The Post, in which the magazine admitted its cover subject's body had been altered. The issue was put together under the watch of Boulton, who has since been replaced by new editor-in-chief Roy Johnson.
"Pecker is livid. He really thinks this is something Bonnie should have caught," said one source. "He's crazy about wanting everything in his magazines to be accurate and basically told her she was responsible."
Normally, we'd make a joke here about AMI's "crazy" obsession with accuracy, but instead we'll content ourselves by smugly pointing out that Page Six could use a copy-editor of their own.
Normally, we don't feel so bad for Nat Ives. The AdAge magazine industry beatboy has a pretty decent gig, though no, perhaps not as much as Freeloader. But there are certain instances when the likable lad needs a more free-wheeling outpost.
Like today, when he broke news of Neal Boulton's exit from Men's Fintess. We all know Neal has been carrying on a kind of relationship with – and likely leaking about – Jann Wenner. Wenner, meanwhile, has his wife and boyfriend to think about. (Neal, also, has a wife and kids that might be of some concern.)
So when Nat read the official release – that the 2.5 year veteran EIC is leaving, after a brief leave of absence, to "to write a book and pursue his humanitarian issues, such as obesity" – you knew he had to clench his teeth, bite back any urges to throw in a "canoodling," and settle for merely mentioning that Neal has been "subject of tabloid gossip when the New York Post's Page Six recently claimed he had been 'spotted around town' with Jann Wenner."
We're sorry, Nat. We know it can be rough out there with corporate bosses.
Well, it's been a few days since we last heard from Men's Fitness EIC/Jann Wenner's makeout buddy, Neal Boulton, so we figured it was time for the obligatory update. Fortunately, veteran drinker media columnist Keith Kelley has one in today's NYP! And according to Kelly, the still-recovering Boulton has been (temporarily!) replaced by former Savoy head honcho Roy Johnson.
As for Boulton himself, when last we saw him, he was lying in a hospital bed, being visited* by publishing maven/alleged canoodler Jann Wenner, and joking about his marriage being over (hilarious!) Now Kelly reports that he's checked out of St. Vincent's, and is currently recuperating from surgery at home, where he is—presumably—being attended by his loving wife, with whom he has had sexual relations at least twice, as evidenced by his progeny.
CONTINUED »
Just as we get done reporting a rumored sighting of Jann Wenner visiting maybe-lover and Men's Fitness EIC Neal Boulton at St. Vincent's Hospital comes word that actual Jann BF Matt Nye is "VERY SICK." We're told Nye has been in and out of the hospital of late, which means those flowers Jann brought to St. Vincent's could've been meant for Nye. Or half were for Nye, half were for Boulton.
Or the flowers were for Jann, a gift to himself for all this stress he's under.
Editorial Director
