This is one for the history books, for the tabloid hall of fame, for recounting dreamily some years hence when sloshed and remembering that good old day: Doug Dechert, longtime source of New York gossip, both as its subject and conferrer, argued against climate change using his own farts at an Upper East Side dinner that he hosted in support of anti-vaxxer and presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Page Six’s Mara Siegler reported that the hot air exchange broke out between Dechert and art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, after one dinner attendee asked Kennedy for his thoughts on the environment (Haden-Guest has written for Vanity Fair)
Dechert reportedly yelled, “The climate hoax!” and freelanced about the “scam.”
Haden-Guest, who Siegler reports was roused by Dechert’s agitation, attempted to shout down his acquaintance of three decades, alternately calling him a “miserable blob,” “fucking insane,” and “insignificant.”
At an impasse, Dechert began farting loudly while yelling, “I’m farting!”
RFK Jr. apparently took it all on the chin (Vanity Fair has reached out to the presidential hopeful for comment).
All there is to say about all of this is: New York! Whatta town! We’re back up! The fight between these two elder statesmen of a bygone era of the city is a real return to form, when one could cad around in peace with only Page Six and maybe the Observer to call you out. It’s not the first time Dechert was the talk of the town for his brawling impulses. He reportedly once engaged in fisticuffs with Ian Spiegelman, a former Page Six reporter (a post Spiegelman lost after he wrote a threatening email to Dechert in 2004). Their fight arena of choice, Gawker reported at the time, was a book party in early-aughts New York.
But where once fists sufficed, now only flatulence will do. Dechert told Page Six, when asked for comment, “I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence.”
For his part, Haden-Guest had said at the dinner that he was “done” with Dechert. Later, however, he told Siegler that he’s “sure we will talk again.”
Dechert, unfazed, asked he be referred to as a “gallivanting boulevardier” or a “beer-fueled Sex rocket,” but there are other names that would work. Famously, the farting cows do make climate change worse.
