David Weiss is a Los Angeles-based freelancer who grew up in Oak Park. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the LA Herald Examiner and Men's Journal and co-founded the band Was (Not Was) with Don Was whose songs include "Walk The Dinosaur." His father, the late Rube Weiss, was Santa Claus in the Hudson's Thanksgiving Parade.
His column is in response to an LA Times aritice titled: "Six L.A. power players who found themselves in the Epstein files."
By David Weiss
Barry Josephson (Linkedin photo)
Karma and Schadenfreude -- such a delightful one-two punch! Allow me, dear reader, to explain.
Years ago, when my faint star had risen to its humble apogee in showbiz, I was summoned to a lunch meeting with then music manager Barry Josephson, one of Sandy Gallin's prime stooges. Gallin managed the likes of Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond, even Michael Jackson.
What, pray tell, would he want with me, a loony lyricist and fledgling music producer? Did he need a court wit, a valet, someone to find the King of Pop's other glove? Time would only tell.
I arrived with bated breath at 9200 Sunset at 11:45 am for our noon lunch at some swank spot on the Strip (my prime motivation for the tryst), checked in with the receptionist and began thumbing through the trades (looking for typos, an old habit from my halcyon days as proofreader at Daily Variety), glancing at my watch here and there.
David Weiss (aka David Was)
High noon passed, as did 12:15. My stomach grumbled and my patience gradually flagged. Finally, at one o'clock, the lobby phone rang and it was bad news: "Mr. Was," quoth the raven-haired beauty behind the desk, "Barry says that he's unable to meet with you today. Do you need your parking validated?"
No, I need the last two hours of my life back, I wanted to say, but instead slunk away in silence, wondering why this jackanapes, this oleaginous weasel, had deigned to invite me to lunch in the first place. I would never find out. I never heard from him again, either to reschedule or to apologize. He was 30 steps away from the lobby for cryin' out loud! He couldn't have come out to address me in person?
Some years later, my brother Jonathan Weiss and I were hired to music supervise a TV bomb-to-be called Secret Agent Man, a co-creation of Josephson and his pal Barry Sonnenfeld. When the Hollywood big man heard that I was onboard, he told somebody: "You got David Was? He's amazing!"
Jeffrey Epstein
When we finally met at a production meeting, he bear-hugged and glad-handed me and asked how I'd been. "I'm hungry!" I answered. "I haven't eaten since you stood me up for lunch 5 years ago!" He didn't laugh.
Of course it gave me no small amount of satisfaction to see my good friend's name turn up in the Epstein files recently, in an email to Jeffrey that described a potential female assistant as a “young, attractive woman with an insane rack.” The producer also reportedly borrowed more than $330,000 from Epstein in 2011 and 2012 to pay tax bills. I wonder how he "racked" that up?
Poor shnook! His wife announced their divorce last week and Barry made this pathetic statement about his beloved pedophile pal: "My biggest regret, bar none, is that I foolishly believed his denials of wrongdoing. I apologize to all who were hurt by this clearly terrible and depraved individual."
Clear to all except his willing co-conspirators in either silence or complicity. Karma can be bitchy, my almost lunch-buddy. But Schadenfreude is as sweet as the key lime pie I didn't get to order for dessert that fateful day on the Sunset Strip. I think I stopped for an In-N-Out Burger on my way home to the godforsaken Valley.
As for the disgraced has-been Barry Josephson, he joins the elite fraternity of unrepentant perverts that includes Trump, Musk, Dershowitz and Wexner, among many other callow enablers and scoundrels. He will be remembered for that and little else, the rat bastard! I knew him when...
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Here's what the LA Times reported on Josephson:
The files: Barry Josephson, noted producer and the former head of production at Columbia Pictures, corresponded with Epstein from around 2010 to 2018, chatting about business, young girls and trading favors, according to emails released in the files. In a Feb. 19, 2011, email, Epstein asked Josephson to recommend women in their early 20s who would like to be an assistant. “I have ‘the’ girl,” Josephson responded that day, “Young, attractive, insane rack.” He said the girl worked for him on two movies and was “smart, although not a genius, but very efficient, will do anything, and tight lipped period end of story.”
An email with a name redacted.
In an email, “Bones” producer Barry Josephson suggests to Jeffrey Epstein a girl to work as an assistant. Josephson has said he’s ashamed of the language he used in emails to Epstein. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Epstein and Josephson appeared to hang out frequently in Los Angeles and New York over the years, according to their correspondence. Emails included in the files show Josephson saying he would try to secure roles for Epstein’s niece and goddaughter.
The response: The “Bones” producer issued a statement to Variety on Saturday saying he was ashamed of the crude and juvenile language in his emails with Epstein and that there was no excuse for what he said. He did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. “While I did attend social events with Epstein, and he did visit my sets twice, I never traveled with him on his plane, visited his island, or saw him in the company of minors,” Josephson wrote in his statement. He said his biggest regret was that he “foolishly believed” Epstein’s denials of wrongdoing. “I was impressed by his circle of acquaintances from varied industries, and it blinded me,” he continued. “I apologize to all who were hurt by this clearly terrible and depraved individual.”
Josephson’s wife, singer Brooke Josephson, announced on her Instagram story on Saturday that she was separating from her husband. “In light of recent events in the news this week I am prepared to share a personal update,” she wrote. “Barry Josephson and I are going through a divorce.” She added that she was unaware of his relationship with Epstein. He filed for a separation in December 2024, according to documents in Los Angeles Superior Court.
