Warhol Created a Mag to Get Press Passes. Now It's Folding

Andy Warhol's 'Interview' files for Chapter 7 after nearly 50 years on newsstands
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2018 7:12 AM CDT
After Nearly 50 Years, Andy Warhol's Interview Shutters
In this 1976 file photo, pop artist Andy Warhol appears in New York.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

For nearly half a century, a publication started by Andy Warhol has been publishing Q&As with such celebrities as John Lennon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and even Warhol himself. Now, in what CNNMoney calls a "painfully familiar" story for those in media, staffers at Interview have taken to Twitter to announce the magazine's demise. One of those employees, editor Ezra Marcus, tells CNN that staffers were brought into a meeting and told both the print and online editions were being shuttered "effective immediately" and that the company is declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 7. Interview Inc. confirmed that in a statement to Artnet, noting, "The Company has been operating at a financial loss … (and) did not believe its financial condition would improve in the foreseeable future."

Warhol started Interview in 1969, and it was taken over by businessman and art collector Peter Brant, described as one of Warhol's friends, in 1989, two years after Warhol had died, per the Washington Post. The Cut reports the magazine has been plagued with troubles of late: There've been recent high-level departures—including that of the publication's ex-creative director, Karl Templer, who's been accused of sexual misconduct—and several former staffers claimed the magazine owed them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another friend says Warhol's initial motivation for the magazine was because he'd been denied tickets for the New York Film Festival and figured if he had a magazine he could get press passes. "This really is the end of an era," Marcus tweeted. (A UK tourist bought a $2 million Warhol painting at a garage sale for $5.)

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