“Great Life” suspended

The Hollywood Reporter on Friday suspended publication of a celebrity column by George Christy following allegations that he traded mentions in his column for favors from movie producers and that they falsely declared that he worked as an actor in their movies to enable him to qualify for health benefits from the Screen Actors Guild. Christy, who has denied the charges, maintaining that his work simply ended up “on the cutting room floor,” told Monday’s New York Times, “It’s a self-imposed leave of absence so I can straighten this out with SAG. It’s a paid leave.” Christy’s suspension was originally reported Friday by the online media magazine Inside, in an article written by David Robb, who quit the Reporter after its publisher, Robert Dowling, refused to run an article about SAG’s investigation of Christy. Interviewed by the New York Times, Robb said: “”It was never my intention for Christy to be fired or disciplined. My intention was to write a story about what he was doing.”