And Then There Were None: Jake Gyllenhaal's Severed Ties in the Gossip Business

Patterns can be interesting.

1) There was Jonathan Jaxson, remember him? In late October 2007, he stirred up chatter online with his talk about Jake Gyllenhaal and rumors of becoming a father along with his partner, by way of surrogacy.

Jake Gyllenhaal & Austin Nichols...Baby???

It is been alleged that Jake Gyllenhaal and his long time secret partner Austin Nichols, allegedly, became parents of a baby boy last Wednesday night (10.17.07) through a planned cesarean via a surrogate. The baby was born at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Hollywood, CA. While Jake is off jet setting promoting his current film, Austin is said to be at home with a nanny tending to the new born allegedly.


I placed a call to Austin's father just moments ago who had acted completely oblivious and only had to say "your funny..." and then ended the call.


Not so sure if I believe this or not. There have not been any photos or anything that have surfaced. The 'source' and supposed 'friend' of Jake's sent me the email to continue by stating Perez Hilton had purchased a photo of them leaving the hospital but has yet to post it.


I contacted Perez Hilton who said this was untrue. Frankly, I am over the whole Jake Gyllenhaal gay stories. I know he has at least been bi, but whether he is for sure with Austin now or having a baby, I am clueless at this point until I see photos. So all the information above is allegedly.

Life moves on and I am now boycotting Jake Gyllenhaal GAY STORIES and any stories pertaining to Britney Spears.

I will close with stating the NY Post 'Blind Item' regarding a closeted actor on Monday was told to me by a staff member there that it refereed to Jake Gyllenhaal. I am lost and don't really care anymore!!!

The end result. Jake is a very handsome man and a very very talented actor. Gay or not!!!

 

- Jonathan Jaxson, JJ's Dirt, October 24, 2007

Don't believe that did not stir up a huge hornet's nest.  

 

Postscript:  In July 2008, (JJ) wrote that he had fired his lawyers in the case Mario Lavandeira had against him.  He also says that's the only lawsuit there ever was against his blog, so that statement would indicate that Jake did not sue to shut him up. - (Aug 28, 2008  12:40 pm)

 

 

Some online commenters believe Jaxson just used gossip columnist Ted Casablanca's Toothy Tile blinds to create his write-up.  The above post from Jonathan Jaxson (former publicist for Kim Kardashian) was widely re-posted.  By September 17 of that same year, the National Enquirer was publishing a story reporting from "a source" that Jake was upset over the baby rumors.   Treasure trove Oh My Godot.blogspot had the article.

In the discussion thread on the Oh My Godot post about the article, someone speculated about the author of the story being "by John South".  Another anonymous commenter points out that Jonathan Jaxson was from Atlanta, which is located of course, in the south and so they were finding the writer's name a curious one.  Then to further raise one's eyebrow as to the author's name, someone else points out that Jonathan Jaxson had mentioned several times on his blog that he had written some stories for National Enquirer.

Now, Ted Casablanca (from E!Online) had been writing about the Toothy Tile/Grey Goose and Baby Tile rumors/story for some time before Jonathan Jaxson's brazen story appeared in 2007.  And many of the early readers had either speculated or already believed that Jake was Toothy Tile.

But, despite the similarity of the subject matter, there was one big difference between Ted Casablanca and Jonathan Jaxson when it came to how they wrote about the story.  Therefore, even though Jaxson may have derived his content from Ted's original gossip site and the cumulative clues he continued to present, there was a distinct difference in the two men's approach to the story.

Whereas Ted C. used the blind item names of Toothy Tile and Grey Goose, Jonathan Jaxson used their actual names - Jake Gyllenhaal and Austin Nichols.

THAT was the difference.

And so if this National Enquirer story was indeed written by Jaxson, with a vague reference to his own blog:

"The site quoted an unnamed 'former Hollywood publicist' claiming: 'Jake Gyllenhaal is planning to come out some time by the end of the month...He and his boyfriend of several years, rumored to be Austin Nichols, are expecting a baby in September."

could the National Enquirer story already have been a sign of Jaxson backtracking and trying to salvage a gossip writing career that was likely already being threatened to be extinguished?  Although look at this brazen post Jaxson published on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 (this would have been four days after the birth of Baby Tile). 

Sunday, October 21, 2007

More' Jake is Gay' from Jonathan Jaxson

From JJ's blog
As if I haven't told the story before...Jake Gyllenhaal is GAY!!!

Here is a photo of Jake & Reese Witherspoon, looking extremely uncomfortable together while attending the "Rendition" photocall at the 2nd Annual Rome Film Festival today.
The NY Post ran a 'blind item' today which only adds to what I have said previously...

“WHICH movie studio is desperately trying to hide its latest star’s homosexuality? They have made him pair up with his leading lady, whom he couldn’t care less about.”

There is a small chance that the NY Post maybe talking about Zac Efron, but my bets are on Jake & Reese. Especially considering the flood of emails from 'insiders' I have recently received on this story.

It takes balls to actually speak the truth on the rich, famous and powerful. There is always those very scary lawyers that come after you and threaten you and your life thinking you won't ever speak out on it again. That is exactly why the NY Post, Perez and others only place the outings and such as 'blind items' as they are afraid of lawsuits and backlash. For me, I say "BRING IT ON!"

I think I might start calling Jaxson "Scrappy Doo".  LOL!  Daaaamn.

Well, the sad part about this though, is that was the last heard from him on the subject.  Jonathan Jaxson found himself on the outside looking in.  He disappeared from sight, was ridiculed on sites like DataLounge, and accused of "re-telling" Ted Casablanca's blind and making it his own, even though Ted never had the detail about the name of the hospital nor calling Austin's father.  So where did he get that information? There are a few more interesting asides after this drama, but we can always save it for another day.  The point is, Jaxson's career never recovered.

2)  Ted Casablanca - what hasn't been discussed about Ted, the writer of the whole Toothy Tile/Grey Goose/Baby Tile saga?  He began the blind in 2005 and his "farewell" to Tooth and GG came in this last Blind Vice he wrote for E!

Do we have any Blind Vice couples with happy endings? Stealth Stud-Poof and his BF? Eh. Judas Jack-Off and Dashed Dingle-Dream? Definitely not.
So it was with naïve, battered hope we were all holding out for a Toothy Tile and Grey Goose's happy ending, right?

Don't think we're getting it:

Because even though put-upon Grey has looked the other way during Toothy's past indiscretions this latest one's a little harder to stomach.

T2 had the nerve to not exactly discreetly hole up in a fancy hotel room recently with a coworker. From one of his movies, no less.

It did not go unnoticed by the posh inn's even more posh clientele.

This is a far cry from one of Toothy's back-alley pretty-boy quickies, and it's a situation Grey's finding it much harder to not let bug him.

We say why try? Isn't enough enough? 

Come on, true love's one thing (especially when you have family together), but unending masochistic devotion's entirely another.

Grey, stop pretending you're Saint Suck-Up and completely move on, already.

March 23, 2012 - Ted Casablanca

By early July, Ted was gone from E! online.  Many blame the Blind Vice published on May 11, 2012 where Jeremy Renner's name was inserted instead of his blind vice name.  Kind of an odd mistake to make, wouldn't you think though, when Ted had written so many blinds before with no "reveal" issues and no doubt, has editors going over his copy before publishing?  So Ted writes that Tooth is stepping out on Grey Goose and for GG to give his man the pink slip, then he "outs" Jeremy Renner, and by July, he's gone.

Following his "resignation/retirement and moving on", Ted moved to Twitter, but any tweets about gossip were more rare than a snowstorm in the Sahara Desert.  He talked about traveling and his dogs, mostly.  He also kept talking about his tell-all book,

Pretty sure we haven't seen any sign of that book.   But what did happen was Ted bought an art studio in Palm Springs, CA and so he talks about art as well as traveling and some social issues.  At this point in 2020, it's apparent that his typewriter was slung over the bridge with a cement block attached.  He made sure to "kill off" his Toothy Tile and Grey Goose romance story before he disappeared into the cornfields though, didn't he?

3) Our next disappearing oddity is Trent Venegas from Pink is the New Blog.  Trent was a teacher and writer who lived in Detroit, MI.  He liked following celebrities and after a relationship break up with a boyfriend, Trent up and packed, moving to Los Angeles.  What a dream!  Kudos to Trent, right?

There he went!  lol.  And so he proceeded to survive and thrive in LA. with his unique style of writing on his blog, PITNB (for short), which started in 2004.  He wrote about celebrities, including who?  One of our faves Jake and that meant sometimes, Austy.  Which also meant that PITNB found its way onto the pages of Oh My Godot a few times. 😉

But in 2015, everything changed and Trent posted a goodbye, that he would no longer be with PITNB after Sept 30 of that year.  He posted on Sep. 12. (a departure that was written about on Billboard)

After September 30, I will no longer be writing Pink is the new Blog. The reality of this fact has been a weight on me for months now and I still haven’t come to terms with it but finally sharing the news with all of you today not only makes it “real” but it forces me to truly begin to process what is about to happen. I’ve been writing this blog professionally for 10 years and I’ve been in the practice of daily blogging for over 12 years … and for the first time in over a decade, I find myself at the end of one chapter of my life and at the beginning of another. I’m sure there will be many questions and I will do my best to answer as many of them as I can. I’ll begin to enlighten further below and will to the best of my ability be as open and honest as I can in my final weeks as author of Pink is the new Blog.
I have to preface my comments about my leaving Pink is the new Blog with the heads up that I am not truly at liberty to discuss many details about what is going on. I can say that the decision to leave PINTB was not mine. A few years ago, the decision was made by me to sell the site to a company that made many promises in the hopes that PINTB could live on and thrive for many years. The deal was a very good one … at the start. Then, matters beyond my control began to adversely affect the health of the blog and well, those matters never really got better. Because I was no longer the one calling the shots, my goal was to keep my head down and continue to write the blog on a daily basis to the best of my ability, with the dwindling resources available to me as I saw fit … as I had been doing from the very beginning. There was no real support and no real investment in the health and survival of the site — and I know that you have noticed. To be honest, I don’t even want to go on about the negatives and I surely don’t want to air grievances here on the blog now. I have always been as honest and as transparent as possible with my blog so maybe I’ll tell the whole sad story elsewhere, at a later date. For now, I just need to get the information out there that this will be my last month writing Pink is the new Blog (a small number of close friends know this news already, the vast majority of my friends do not). Starting October 1, the site will be authored, managed and edited by someone who has never written a single thing for PINTB in its over 10 year existence. Again, this decision was not mine to make. I have been invited to participate with the site in a very limited capacity after my last day of September 30 but I honestly can’t see how that would be a wise decision for me. I promise, I will share more about what is happening and how it is affecting me in the next couple of weeks but for now, I just want to publish this post — have the information “out there” — and begin to move forward.- Sept. 12, 2015, Trent Vanegas on Pink is the New Blog

Can you read between the lines on that one?  It doesn't take a genius to see this was not a willful act on his part.  And so what does Pink is the New Blog look like now?  Get a load of this one.

Fashion, career, travel, cute picture of the day???  A woman's lifestyle blog?  Bath bombs and renovating a bathroom and managing working from home?  Aren't there a 1000+ sites devoted to topics like this already? 

Why did Spin Media want control of his blog?  And again, Trent had met Jake, and wrote about him as well as Jaustin sightings.  How did he happen to meet Jake?  It's all just kind of interesting, isn't it?  Narnia salutes Trent because after reading several articles on him and how he refused to pile onto one of his favorite celebrities, Britany Spears, during her tumultuous period but instead focus on the positive, it's clear to see that Trent was one of the good guys.

Trent Vanegas

4)  And finally, there's Michael K.   Michael K, he whose pen flowed with the snark and humor like no one has ever written before.  Some of his classic posts on Jake:

Katie Holmes Bearding For Jake Gyllenhaal?

Man, that Suri Cruise chick is a friggin’ diva. And way too big to be carted around like that. NYC does have some dirty-ass sidewalks, but seriously. No wonder why Katie Holmes looks so fatigued all the time. She’s carting Tiny Tim Suri around like the girl has polio and she’s lost her crutches. Stepford Katie is supposedly dating Jake Gyllenhaal, according to The Sun. Jakey’s in good shape, so maybe she’s just looking for a dude to hold her snooty daughter. Or there was a glitch in her server and the bearding program was reactivated?- Jan 2, 2013  DListed - Michael K

And another classic:

And let's reach back for one more classic because it's on who?  Jake and Austin from 2007!!  Yea for Michael K!! 💖💝👬💕

But what is it they say about all good things, right? And so somewhere along the way, as the WME/Endeavor era unfolded and evolved and Jake and Austin's closet became cemented six feet under, Michael K's tone with Jake began to change from one of fondness to one of disappointment, with a cutting, crudish edge.  And he also began just calling Jake flat out as in this post excerpt from December 28, 2016, where he outed Jake as Toothy Tile.

Jake, his beard, his “pandas with jaundice” trunks and his friend (and not in a quotation marks and italics sort of way, she’s an actual friend) Greta Caruso (aka the daughter of David Caruso and Melina from the original Total Recall) were papped yesterday going for a swim in the ocean. Or if celebrities really are just like us, they were papped while taking a piss in the ocean because the bathroom is way too damn far away from their loungers. I’m going with that,  because in a few of the pictures, it looks like Jake’s Clan of the Cave Bear-looking ass is smiling the kind of relieved smile someone does while finally emptying their piss bag. And as he’s doing that, Greta is probably screaming, “Eww, Toothy Tile, aim thattaway, it’s hitting my leg!”

Indeed, Ted, indeed!

Like the other bloggers/columnists above, there came a time for the Dear John letter. And barely seven (7) months later after that post, Michael K was writing that he was taking a "semi-sabbatical":

So, like a mysterious rash on my ass, I’ve been avoiding addressing this shit, but it’s time. Starting right now, I’m taking a semi-sabbatical (I almost wrote “slutbatical” but that makes it sounds like I’m taking a break from being a slut) from writing on Dlisted for the rest of the summer to deal with health stuff, recharge my mushed-up brains and to write my 3,000 page unauthorized Phoebe Price biography (I wish). - DListed July 10, 2017

He went on to name several co-writers who were already on staff and would be picking up his slack, but that he was also hiring two additional writers. 

Nowadays, Michael K's blog barely resembles itself, with writing that just is not as clever and comment threads that devolve into irrelevant, off-topic personal conversations between posters.  He runs a podcast now and there's an interesting article on his blog history as well as where he is now called Michael K and the Disappearing Celebrity Blogger from November 06, 2018 on the website Jezebel.

Gossip websites are a dying breed, although there are still some remaining with opportunities to comment like DataLounge, Towelroad, and Lipstick Alley in addition to many others.  But these sites are filled with monitoring, excessive rules, and internet policing, not to mention planted with publicist-sent interns.

Notice a common trait amongst all four (4) of these gossip columnists/bloggers:  they're all gay men who were out and they all had ties to Jake or liked to post about him.  Trent had met Jake and of course, Ted also had.  Jonathan Jaxson and Michael K liked to post about Jake.   Prior to their departures from their regular blogs/websites, three of the four had posted about Jake.

Jonathan Jaxson - in his case, he had posted the story about Jake and Austin having a baby together, naming them by name, only to disappear from blogging soon after.

Michael K - had directly referred to Jake as Toothy Tile

Ted Casablanca - had a Blind Vice about Toothy and Grey Goose, advising GG to leave the relationship.

Coincidence?  Or a defining pattern?

our pic/research sources:  Giphy, Billboard, blogging.la., Hokua

                                  Beach Supply, The Advocate, The Wrap,

                                  blogsnark, seattletimes, Oh My Godot, Jezebel,

our playlist:  Hush - Deep Purple

                     Between You and Me - DC Talk

                     Warning Sign - Coldplay