OK! Magazine Is Edgy on the Inside
The UK Observer has an interesting tidbit on the launch of the latest horse in the celebrity weekly stable, British import OK!, which is slated to hit the stands this Thursday. (Rest assured, we're wearing giant countdown clock necklaces, Flava Flav-style.) It's going to be an all out battle for the trashtastic crown, but we're thinking OK!'s edge over People, Us, and Bonnie Fuller's family might come down to OK! publisher Richard Desmond:
Desmond decided to launch in the US after the collapse of talks with potential joint-venture partners, but his return could also carry a personal risk. The story of Desmond's alleged run-in with the New York mafia is well known. The fact, never disputed, is that Desmond set up a sex line business in the city.
The accusation, backed by legal documents which emerged in a Mafia trial this year, was that a hitman was sent to London, where he warned Desmond to close the operation and avoid New York. Desmond has denied that the incident took place. But whatever the truth, he has visited the US periodically since he ceased to do business in the Big Apple.
Sex, mafia, a dangerous and triumphant return — the story behind OK! is the ideal OK! cover story. You just can't compete with that much meta. And hell, if there were a celebrity weekly knife fight, we'd bet on Desmond.
