Crazy Days and Nights “gossip” author exposed

Update November 2020: “Enty” appears to have sent legal threats to Google and got the below discussion deleted from Reddit, along with getting this page at least temporarily removed from Google search results, thus proving that we have the right guy.

Update October 2020: See discussions on Tumblr and Reddit and PurseForum

Hucksters can exclusively reveal the name of the Missouri lawyer who runs the infamous Crazy Days and Nights blog, known for publishing salacious gossip and rumors about Hollywood celebrities.

R. Emmett McAuliffe is the man behind the website, and by his own testimony to media outlets in the past, he is responsible for “99%” of the tens of thousands of shocking posts and allegations that have appeared there since the site was launched way back in 2006, of which he dubiously claims “75%” of his contributed stories are accurate (the rest being “tips” that he apparently publishes without hesitation).

Another man, Talley Griffith (now deceased) — an aspiring politician from small-town Virginia and one-time screenwriter who attended UNCSA Filmmaking School — is almost certainly the person behind dozens of other posts that appeared on the blog over the years under the username “Himmm” who tried to pass himself off as Robert Downey Jr. (which made waves). Several online users have surmised that McAuliffe was (ironically) duped into believing that Griffith was much more connected to Hollywood events than he actually was.

As for McAuliffe, while his work as an intellectual property attorney in St. Louis, Missouri, has apparently resulted in him crossing paths with certain media groups like the RIAA, it is not immediately clear why he chose to hold himself out on crazydaysandnights.net as some sort of Los Angeles “insider” with access to thousands of exclusive stories that tabloids like TMZ could only dream of knowing. Indeed, with hundreds of top-rated attorneys in California that specialize in fields that are specifically tailored to the celebrity world, there is little to no reason for actors, producers, singers, and other Hollywood-types to contact a lawyer who lives hundreds of miles away… let alone share gossip with him.

In fact, according to his profile on Justia (a leading directory of lawyers), McAuliffe is only licensed to practice law in the state of Missouri, meaning that any literal or implied claim to being party to the daily lives and various legal concerns of so-called Hollywood elites is very unlikely at best, and a completely fraudulent years-long hoax at worst. (That is not to say that, after years of CDAN’s reputation growth, his blog did not ever receive legitimate scoops from certain celebrities or their public relations teams, etc, well-intentioned or otherwise.)

Among other instances of blatant dishonesty, McAuliffe told the New York Post back in 2012 that he lived in Los Angeles and was licensed to practice law in California, that he was close friends with actors Amber Tamblyn and Leonardo DiCaprio, and that Gawker Media had offered to buy his website (they denied it on the record)… he also apparently outed Talley Griffith to the Post reporter as well, perhaps as some sort of revenge for Griffith having brought negative attention to the blog after posing as Robert Downey Jr.

Interestingly, McAuliffe claims on LinkedIn to have been working at Spencer Fane law firm during 2007 (the year he told the Post that he was hanging out with celebrities in Los Angeles), and they do not have any offices in California. They do, however, have an office in St. Louis, Missouri.

And while he might be a serial liar pushing the limits of libel law and consumer fraud, it has certainly paid off for him: McAuliffe’s Patreon account has been earning him around $20,000+/month for several years, and this does not include the various advertising channels on Crazy Days and Nights. In total, the site has likely earned him a 7-figure profit in the decade-plus that he has been publishing to Blogspot.

In a 2017 interview with The Daily Beast, McAuliffe stated, “My site has always been about the underdog and the victims,” while talking about his #MeToo related blind drops involving Harvey Weinstein. It is not clear what he meant by that, since much of the published gossip over the years was irrelevant to fighting predators, etc — but to McAuliffe’s credit, he does appear to have been involved with the YMCA and other volunteer opportunities around Missouri that focus on the arts, education, non-profits, and homeless people, etc; McAuliffe has also represented several aspiring hip hop artists from St. Louis and has evangelized to small businesses about how to protect their assets.

Besides being a full-time attorney and gossip blogger, McAuliffe also runs several other blogs about things like the St. Louis Browns baseball franchise and Missouri arts and culture; he also seems to have an affinity for old-school American movies and music. His boyish looks and giddy-geeky blogger persona combined with Hollywood obsession is strangely similar with Matt Drudge.

He also runs a “Baby boomer” pride group on Facebook among an incredible amount of other hobbies and activities.