The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Animals
Gerbilling
 richard gere




Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 12:03:55 -0500
From: Maggie Newman <jole@gsbpop.uchicago.edu>

The gerbil UL has been mentioned in print at least twice.

After Barbara Walters' TV interview of Richard Gere in November 1991, a _Newsday_ reporter mentioned the gerbil rumor in his review of the show (although Walters did not). In the interview, Walters referred to "salacious rumors," and Gere, clearly uncomfortable, stated that he didn't care what people thought of him, adding "if I am a cow and someone says I'm a zebra, it doesn't make me a zebra." Perhaps Gere was referring here to the rumors that dogged him during his affair with (and subsequent marriage to) Cindy Crawford, namely that both were gay and "bearding" for each other. But the _Newsday_ reporter specifically mentions the "famous gerbils with which [Gere's] name has been associated," if only to note their absence.

The _Palm Beach Post_ published an article about _National Enquirer_ reporter Mike Walker on September 5, 1995. In it, Walker is quoted extensively about his failed efforts to track the story down. "I don't think I've ever worked harder on a story," he states. Walker received his first tip on this "scoop" in the late 1980s and spent a long time seeking the name of the attending physician his many doctor informants swore had been there. Walker is now convinced the story is an "urban legend." One can't help concluding that if an Inquiring Mind can't find a particular piece of dirt, its existence is mighty doubtful.

Maggie Newman
Managing Editor
Journal of Labor Economics
http://gsbmxn.uchicago.edu/HomeLabor/1997prog.htm


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