If, like me, you’re “I saw the plane hit the second tower live on TV” years old, you know we don’t get news the way we used to. Instead of radio and morning news, we hear breaking stories via social media or our friends linking to social media.
The fastest cowboy in social media news land isn’t The New York Times or even the Associated Press. It’s none other than @LizaMinnelliOutlives on Twitter. When I awoke on this fine Tuesday, the first thing I did was check the LizaOutlives account. Sure enough, they broke the news of Kamala Harris’ vice president pick, even before Pop Crave (one minute before).
@LizaMinnelliOutlives also beat Pop Crave to the punch for the Sunday afternoon Biden withdrawal announcement (again by one minute). I spoke with publicist (and former Minnelli employee) Scott Gorenstein, the man behind the legendary account, about how he gets us the news so fast and why he does so via Liza.
My main first question is how are you doing this so fast?
Sometimes it’s luck. Sometimes there’s a lot of preparation if I have a subject that I have a feeling I might want to tweet about. Let’s say it’s Trump on trial and I think that the jury will come back in a day or so. I'll start googling news about who’s writing about it with good reporting. Who’s breaking that news? I’ll be very specific about who I’m following and turning on alerts for specific issues so I know I’m getting the news first from the reporters on the ground.
I will absolutely get stuff in drafts a couple days in advance. I literally had five drafts for today because we had to do one for Shapiro, we had to do one for Walz. I get really obsessive. For this one, the VP pick, I was on vacation on Fire Island up until yesterday, but we get very spotty cell coverage on the island and it was driving me insane, and I cannot miss this at all. I have to be extremely strong and be one of the first to tweet about it. I was supposed to stay until today, but I left the island early last night. When my anxiety and my excitement really is through the roof, I knew I’d be better off just coming home and just doing the work.
You beat everybody though! Is it because you don’t have a boss and don’t have to go through editorial? How are you posting before CNN, etc?
I’m a publicist, so I know who’s legitimate. So Peter Baker (the White House Correspondent for the New York Times)? I was following him very closely for the Biden announcement. If Peter Baker is popping up with exclusive news, I know it’s legit. I’ll be out and a friend of mine will only send me “so and so died.” I can’t go with that! I’ve pulled my car to the side of the road in traffic just to start writing or scrolling because this is a big one. There’s no waiting til you get home.
Why do you do this at all?
It’s a fun writing exercise. Some of my tweets are humorous. Not all because sometimes I can’t work a joke into a tweet. Sometimes I can. I get to put out there in the world what I’m interested in. Whether it’s certain people, pop culture, politics. At the end of the day, it’s about me and about what my interests are.
I love that it’s Liza, but why Liza?
As far as Liza, I mean, I will take any opportunity to remind the world that she’s one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived. Today, 10,000 people are reading about Liza Minnelli in some obscure, weird way, but I don’t give a shit because I love that woman.
It’s on Twitter. It’s not on Threads. You must see that people are clamoring for Threads. And it’s not on Instagram. Why don’t you want to do the other ones?
This is what happened with any other outlet other than Twitter: Is it Bluesky? Is that what it’s called?
Yes, that is a thing.
A number of my friends said, “You have to do it.” But, no, I'm not interested in doing anything other than Twitter. This is my thing. There’s a limit here. Then when Threads came along, my god, my friends were like, “This the ones gonna be the next Twitter,” so I told them, “I'm gonna get the name so it’s nailed down, but I’m not doing it. Twitter’s my thing, that’s all.” It took me four years to get to this. I’m not looking to start over again. I will get a little obsessed about the numbers. I can calm down. Followers will either come or they won’t.
Right this second it seems like you have to be kind of obsessed to win. So it’s you and Pop Crave. You beat them by one minute.
I beat everyone. I don’t know how it works with the New York Times, but I think they have to go through a lot more hoops than I do. Biden’s Sunday afternoon, I could have been a minute quicker. A friend of mine texted, “Here we go.” But this friend of mine, we’d been talking about P Diddy and when that indictment’s going down. So I texted her, “P Diddy?” and she sent me Biden’s tweet. I’m literally looking at that as I’m pushing the button. I called her later. I’m like, “You have to be specific. I might have lost 30 seconds to a minute!” If i’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it. Sometimes I kick myself because, oh man, I could have made that funny. But, sometimes you don’t have the time.
It’s inherently funny since it’s Liza outliving the event. If I don’t send them your tweets, my millennial friends get their news from the Hellicity Merriman Instagram account.
Which account is that?
It’s American Girl Dolls. If you’re not friends, you might get along.
Mmm hmm…
What will you do IF LizaOutlives outlives Liza?
(Very long pause. When he speaks, his voice is quieter and slower than it’s been.)
That’s never going to happen. I won’t ever address anything like that. I can’t tell you what this woman has meant to me my entire life.
Will it go with her?
I don’t think about things like that. I won’t ever think about that. I won’t talk about it. No. Okay?
Anything else you want to say?
I want to remind people Liza Minnelli is a legend for a reason. Go watch Cabaret. Go watch Liza with a Z. You will be amazed if you haven’t seen it already. The Cabaret movie is one of the greatest films of all time. The most incredible performance ever captured on film. Everytime I get to talk about the wonder and majesty that is Liza Minnelli, I’m happy.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
