WILLIAM KECK-Tabloid Reporting legend and local boy -

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
William You're on with Quinn and Cantra.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Mister k Hey, guys, then interview.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
I'm most excited about because I grew up in Albany.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Shut up for reals, all right.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
For real. I was just there last week visiting my
parents in Slingerland, and I went to Bethlehem Central High
School and I was already causing problems.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Then this is Williams.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
William Kack, local boy Gone Big. He's a former national
inquired tabloid writer. Yeah he's a bad boy. Yeah, he's
got a brand new book out called When You Step
Upon a Star Cringeworthy Confessions of a Tabloid bad Boy.
And we're going through some of your history. You put
it all out there, don't you.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
William, You know what I do. I don't particularly look
good in this, but I had spent many years making
celebrities not look good. So I felt it was really
time to turn the tables and tell people how I
got these stories. And in a lot of cases I
did them through not so scrupulous means. So I admitted all.
I name every celebrity in the book except the one

(00:56):
that beat me up. I'm not allowed to name his name,
so I dropped him so.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh, which one beat him up?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
I'll google. I'm gonna google you.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Either Kelsey Grammar or somebody.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, it's in the book. It's what you people are
guessing instead of the celebrities photo, instead I have photos
are being beaten up by a grizzly bear, which is
another wild story I.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Was sent on.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
All right, but let's let's just let's get the most unscrupulous.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Thing out of the way. In my opinion, William Kett
from Slinger the Pictures Simson House, I like the way
it's worded. William found ways to sneak into hospital rooms
to chronicle quote the brave final days of many an
aging celeb.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Is that How did that feel doing that?

Speaker 4 (01:39):
William?

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh? Great, Oh, of course, wonderful. No, it was horrible.
It was horrible.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I was in my early twenties. I was desperate to
meet celebrities. I had no contact here, and so I
had an offer to play with the Inquirer and it
was a dream come true. But every once in a
while there will be a completely nightmare scenario. Nightmares diamonds,
and these these editors never took no for an answer.
I can't do that. That's horrible. Yes, you can. We

(02:06):
believe in you. And then I did it, and then
they would pay me more money. So that's that's the
way the mafia works. That's the way the Inquirer works.

Speaker 5 (02:13):
You know, it's a it's a canfulust society. You know,
you gotta get your dirty, your elbows dirty. You can
get out there and hustle and ruin Kelsey Grammar's entirely
personal life.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Who's so did you see out the window.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
For a while? He ruined my life, he writes, writes
about me in his book. So there's a there's a
book on tape persion that you can buy. And you
can hear Kelsey sounding like doctor Fraser Crane, and he says,
William Keck a just speakable piece of less from the
National Enquirer. I invited him to burn in hell, like
your mother must be very very proud.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
We were all over it during our during the show
when night stuff came out. Thank you for it.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Oh my god, it's a William. Where did after slinger?
Len's like? Did you where did you go?

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Oh? Yeah, well, so I was there until I was eighteen,
graduated from Bethlehem Central, and then I went to Hobart College,
my junior year, I spent in New York City, and
that's where I got the taste of film. I worked
as an intern on the All My Children's soap opera,
and then I transferred to USC Film School and worked
for Aaron's Spelling Productions when Dynasty was ending, and then

(03:25):
that sort of led to my trajectory working for Johnny
Carson and then all the tabloids and newspapers and magazines.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
Well, you don't look old enough in this photo. I'm
looking at to have worked back in that far back.
But anyway, he did get er, Are you kidding?

Speaker 3 (03:46):
I had some classic surgery. I writ it's a concessional
in every possible way. You know, when you live here
in LA and you're not born looking like Brad Kitt.
I was a decent looking guy, but he.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Still shame bro clearly. Yeah, well you know what I was.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
I was okay looking, but I wanted to I got
caught up in that plastic surgery world out here. So
I write about my insecurities and feeling less than. So
there's a very very personal, fully uh realized character that
I present for myself. And he goes through highs and lows.
He learns lessons. At the end of every chapter, I
share a very important lesson learned that made me a

(04:25):
better person. So I think people will be able to
relate to a lot of it.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
It's William kat the book When You Step upon a
Star Cringe ready, Confessions of a Tabloid bad Boy. Do
you name any famous lovers in this book?

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, let's see. I mean it's it's salacious. I was
a little nervous with my mom and Slingerland to read
the book, but she loved it.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
I talked about when I was sent to when I
was sent to Vegas and I had to find out
if Kelsey Brammer was engaged to a prostitute. And so
in order to do that, I actually ordered a prostitute
to my room the Mirage, and I confirmed at the
age he was, in fact a call girl service. So
I I talked about those things.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Did you submit seats grab what's that? Did you submit
the receipts for the prostitute?

Speaker 3 (05:14):
I absolutely one hundred percent? Did I one hundred percent?
And they told me I was not the first person
to turn the receipt for for a for a loot
act like that?

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Did you uh?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Did did just real quick, did you Yeah, and now
you buy yourself producer?

Speaker 3 (05:32):
What's that?

Speaker 5 (05:33):
Were you by yourself when you called the h the
prostitute or did you have a producer?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Say somewhere there?

Speaker 3 (05:38):
He So, honestly, I I was. I was in my twenties.
I brought two of my buddies and we were going
to go see the Lion Acts six Free and Roy.
We were all said to go to that, and so
I sent them along and I said, listen, I have
to do this act first in the hotel room. And
I finished that and I was able to catch the
second half of the Tiger Show.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
That's great.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
So it was a it was a great night what
every boy want.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
I mean, this is if I had a kid, I'd say,
this is how you want to go out and you
want to take life by the horns.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Young man, You've lived life. Man, you lived life.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Thank you, William Well.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
I went through some hell too. I mean, another celebrity
who I absolutely adored, a sitcom star. He grabbed me,
he grabbed me between my legs, and U and I
revealed who that is in the book, and I actually
did this person dead. So I reached out to one
of his former co stars, and she defended him, saying
that it was probably like locker room behavior a boy boy,

(06:31):
you know, kind of a well he didn't, he didn't
feel he was he was gay, So I don't know
it rolled out here, and I can't believe I experienced
all of it.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
You know, I didn't even get to the whole reason
we wanted to have you on. And if we're running
out of time, have you been to a Diddy white party?
Do you have anything to say?

Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know what I have. I've been to some celebrity
new swim parties and I write a little bit about
that in the book. But no, I never got doused
in baby oil by Diddy. But uh, you know, good
luck to him. I'm hoping that if my memory will
come back. But at some point he did assault me
so that I can make fifteen million dollars get back
to me on that.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
He's a bad boy. He's a local guy, done good.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, from Bethlehem. He got a good football team and
a good high school football team this season.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
So Eagles no forever. I love my high school. Love.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Good luck to the book, Thanks William, Thank you guys.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Bye bye.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Quinn Cantara picks one on six