American shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge is back in the news after scandalous comments that Fox News host Tucker Carlson made on his show a decade ago have been unearthed. This is the second time that Bubba’s weird name has cropped up in a significant media story – so it’s maybe worth us explaining who he is, and why someone named after a ineffective spunk mop has become such a big deal.
Our story starts with American Media Inc’s oldest and most notorious title: the National Enquirer. As the industry’s most sensational scandal rag, the Enquirer is often blamed for setting the grim tone of modern celebrity reporting – but how did it become so influential? And, more importantly, how did the Enquirer’s ties to a botched Mafia hit-job in 1950s New York end up causing a tabloid boom in 1970s small-town Florida?
12 months ago, Charles Harder’s most notable legal success was getting Jude Law’s face taken off a Canadian fireplace advert. Then he was better known as the man who brought down Gawker. But now as an unprecedented tussle between politics, the press and pop culture personalities rages on, who is standing in the centre of it all…? Charles Harder.