Bad Bodyguard or Author Behaving Badly?
Written by John Erianne on August 3, 2008 – 6:36 pm -The Associated Press is reporting today that Lit-Celeb, Salman Rushdie of The Satanic Verses fame is threatening to sue Ron Evans, one of his former policeman bodyguards over the impending publication of Evans’ memoir On Her Majesty’s Service because of some unkind disclosures about fellow policemen and Rushdie allegedly contained in the book.
Well, you know . . . I have no idea whether the allegations about Rushdie are true, although I’ve heard from the usual unreliable sources ( a friend of a friend of a friend’s cousin’s ex-girlfriend’s sister who heard it from a waiter in a NY restaurant) that Rushdie is an asshole. I’ve never met the man, so I’ll take that information with a grain of salt. Although, I did find it interesting that Rushdie’s the only one vehemently denying Evans’ version. The official spokesman for the Metropolitan Police in London didn’t deny the allegations, only stating that the publication of the book was “unfortunate.” That can easily be translated into “that book embarrasses us, but it embarrasses us because it’s true.” When I think about Evans’ story, I’m suddenly overcome with the image of the police from Irvine Welsh’s novel, Filth. Ha-Ha.
So, is the bodyguard the bad guy here or is Rushdie the real heavy? Undoubtedly, Evans wouldn’t have even mentioned Rushdie were he not a lit-celeb knighted by the Queen. Nonetheless, that doesn’t automatically make him a liar.
What is funny to me is that no one would even give a shit about this book had Rushdie not gone all Mr. Cranky-Pants about it. Now, if the book is published (and probably, even if it isn’t), Evans will get his fifteen minutes of fame and people will put Rushdie under the microscope.
