Apparently Mike Arrington (TechCrunch) was on the “B” list for review copies of the Palm Pre and decided to be huffy with Leo, who let him have it back. At some point people need to realize that Mike Arrington is indeed a douche. He once stiffed us at Cranky Geeks, never showed up and never apologized or even bothered to call. It was pretty amazing, unprofessional and inconsiderate. This BS about Leo slanting his opinion based on having a loaner is laughable.
What irks me most about this guy is his constant assertions that he gets never-ending death threats. Why? For what? I do not want to trivialize death threats as I have had them when writing Op-Eds for a daily newspaper and reporting on gun control and Middle East politics. I’ve never gotten any for writing about tech. And I didn’t hole up when I got them years ago for other commentary. So what is this all about Mike?
Leo, that was a great Blow Off. Short and sweet.
By by Gilmore Gang (stopped listening to that pretentious BS long ago).
His “screw you” defensiveness means the guy nailed him on a valid point. Classic response.
That being said — I love my cheap Palm Zire. I use it everyday. It never fails. I hope Palm hasn’t ruined the concept by bloating it.
Someone should remix this with the Christian Bale audio.
#90 re: “Leo is an Apple fanboi–therefore, Pre, Blackberry, Android etc. will never measure up to iPhone.”
Have you listened to Leo on Windows Weekly or even on Macbreak Weekly praising Windows 7?
As a Apple switcher I am actually trying out Win 7 because of Leo.
Someone should remix this with the Christian Bale rant (“we’re done professionally”).
In the words of Ron Burgandy, “Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast!”
Fuck Mike Arrington. Leo does a weekly show, for free, is always consistent, is always professional, and Arrington is only poisoning the well.
This final push before vacation must be killing him, nice to see Arrington taught a lesson, now everyone take a deep breath and find your inner chi.
It’s like some one accusing Fred Rogers of being a pedophile. That would only accrue to someone with pedophile thoughts. Arrington asserting Laporte would skew a review because he was lent a piece of gear to review would only occur to some who would consider doing such a thing.
I’ve been known to overreact when I notice I’m being falsely accused of wrongdoing. I think Leo was pretty restrained.
I’m still laughing at how he handled his exercise ball bursting on air
I’ll disclose that I am a big fan of Leo’s work. I posted a thought on Friendfeed about this matter and the cast of knuckle-heads on the Gillmor Gang so here I’ll just add that hearing Leo cursing was shocking given his normal standards for TWi* netcasts but I loved his passion! Leo made it clear that he regrets losing his cool and I respect his feelings but MAN did I love hearing him go after Mike for doubting his integrity! Leo don’t ever take that off him or anyone. IMO you sent a message to all of the tech bully-trolls like Arrington: mess with Leo and you just might get your ass handed to you. Awesome!
Lucky for Arrington Leo has Mr. Rogers integrity. Laporte might have Rupert Murdoch like power over the Tech Casting universe.
I have so much more respect for Leo Laporte now. Go Leo!
Ever notice how some folks fit their name in an ironic way? Of course we all see Dr. Hurt, DDS, and think it funny, but some comics like Jay Leno have made a point of connecting the dots between names and situations, coincidences or vocations for mirth or profit.
Was JD inspired as a youth by composer or alternative keyboard designer? Only he can say…
But this guy, Arrington, seems to think he is entitled, perhaps nominally*, to be arrogant. It’s his “town.”
A stretch? Perhaps. But the warped pun value alone is evident.
*Nominal, not in the minimal sense.
Mike acted like a 8 year old that wanted a lolly (in this case the Pre), but the lolly eventualy did go to they guy who disserved it more.
All the comments about the iphone vs all others have NOTHING to do with what happend. This could have happend with evrything that Mike didn’t get that Leo did get. (sorry about all the bad english, i’m Belgian)
And frankly i find the stuff Mike later said kinda BS and way to late, Leo shouldn’t have apologiesed, he did nothing wrong.
I’d watchout Dvorak. You’ll be in studio, doing a TWIT, and say the wrong thing and Leo will start bitch slappin’ ya.
I know who Leo Laporte is. I don’t know who Mike Arrington is. Seeing Mr. Arrington’s response to Leo’s behaviour has pretty much pushed me to believe that Mr. Arrington got a response that was due him.
I am shocked by Leo’s outburst as I’ve never seen or heard him do such a thing before. Go Leo! You and John Dvorak are the men!!
Actually, the question to ask Leo was not how he got the phone. Instead, Arrington or somebody else should have asked Leo how can he be impartial since he spends his whole radio show plugging Steve. (Mac Users’ dream I guess) Leo typically overrates Apple competitors when you ask him for a quick review of something. What I mean by overrate is that he will say they are good/verygood but never actually reccomend them because X product competes with Apple, so in the end, Leo always tell you to buy Apple Whatever anyway. What Leo is trying to do is fool people into thinking he is impartial. So, he will tell you to “go with your heart” and try to convince everybody to buy Apple just like any other Steve worshipper.
Good for you Leo! Your contributions to the IT community are without measure, and in my opinion, underappreciated. It pains me that some D-bag got you that charged up, but he deserved it. We love you and your work Leo, keep it up. Excellent commentary John.
Douchebags like Arrington need to be cursed out, as a service to all.
Awesome Leo!
Time to donate to Twit.tv again.
I have not watched the video on purpose. I don’t know if my delicate condition can handle Leo dropping a vulgarity. And I admit I know very little about Mike Arrington and what he does.
But is it possible that Arrington didn’t get a review unit because he p*ssed someone off in Sprint/Palm’s public relations department prior to the launch of the Pre and not getting a review unit was payback?
Good, I am glad Leo told him off, Arrington had it coming.
Man, first this and then Leo goes off on GoDaddy on the Tech Guy! I feel like a voyeur for some reason.
However, I couldn’t tell which person was Mike Arrington. I can’t see who is speaking.
Go Leo, I would have done the same.
#118 Arrington was the one not transmitting video on the upper right monitor behind Leo
I don’t see how people can say that Leo is unbiased and fair in his reporting on tech. He is an unabashed Apple fan boy and apologist. He regularly praises a Microsoft product on Windows Weekly only to turn around and bash it on Tech Live or another TWIT show. He doesn’t deserve the saint status he’s given in the tech world.
To those who’re stunned that Leo curses, what you see/hear in his podcasts are a carefully crafted image, YOU DO NOT KNOW THE REAL LEO!
I’d bet my next paycheck that Leo is a nice guy, but to find this all out of character for him, sorry, I don’t see it that way. I’ve no doubt that in his business life, he’s a hard-nosed dictator, you don’t get where he is by being a pushover.
Here’s the thing, I agree that Arrington needs to be told off. He needs to shut up and stop publishing opinions as “news” but that doesn’t excuse Leo for taking over someone ELSE’s show. If he didn’t want to carry the Gilmor Gang anymore then he should’ve finished the show and then informed Steve that this would be the last one, not cut it off in the middle because he hears something he didn’t agree with. It was a very childlike maneuver on both parts but we except it from Arrington and we expect Leo to act more “Professional” which may not be fair to do but when involved in someone else’s show you shouldn’t let your personal feelings dictate the running of that show.
Way to go, Leo. Mike is just a nobody who is full of himself.
Arrington is probably a Dick, but that is not the point.
As I watched this, it was Leo that first claimed that his honor was impugned after Arrington only said that Leo needed to say if he bought the phone.
The reason it was a legitimate question is because Leo is notorious for buying EVERYTHING as soon as it is available. I think Leo could have just mentioned it and moved on.
Not letting Arrington even have an opportunity to explain where he was coming from was pretty bush league on the part of Leo.