Gerbil

Afleveringen

1. 7 - A Guide to Dating Gerbils

   22 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 6 min

   Afspelen
   The Toronto Film Festival, a Hollywood sitcom writers room, and a Manhattan humor magazine provide clues through the murkiest origins of the rumor. Testimony from writers and reporters, and a key archival discovery, give unsettling clarity about when and how it might have started. Lees meer

2. 6 - Fear and Biting in Mesa

   15 oktober 2026 · 50 min

   Afspelen
   Gerbils have been illegal in California since 1924. So how does the rumor even work? Allen road-trips to Arizona to meet real gerbils, becomes a casualty of a nasty hamster, consults Sigmund Freud, and calls up New York's "Rat Czar" to sort out smuggling logistics. Lees meer

3. 5 - Without a Base, Without a Trace

   8 oktober 2026 · 46 min

   Afspelen

   Is "gerbiling” actually a real thing? Between a bestiality investigator's case file, a 2024 FBI report, and doctors who've seen things, we go looking for the line between urban legend and actual medical phenomenon.

4. 4 - Tail Between His Legs

   1 oktober 2026 · 47 min

   Afspelen
   In the 1980’s after Rock Hudson's death, Hollywood's homophobia is in full panic mode, and American culture is whispering about – and mocking – the sexuality of leading men. Plus: another newsman, another gerbil rumor, real damage, and the case for "Gerbil Rumor Infection Syndrome." Lees meer

5. 3 - Sex Object

   24 september 2026 · 46 min

   Afspelen
   Playing pimps and hustlers, attacking the press, projecting an unreadable sexuality — welcome to early Richard Gere. Bret Easton Ellis, Karina Longworth, and journalist Michael Gross help explain how the star became the perfect vessel for a rumor this sticky, and Howard Stern asks Sylvester Stallone if he started it. Lees meer

6. 2 - The Philadelphia Gerbil Panic of 1985

   17 september 2026 · 52 min

   Afspelen

   Could Jerry Penacoli — Philly's golden-boy newsman, be the Gerbil rumor's actual patient zero? Eyewitnesses and archival tape tell a wilder, sadder story than anyone remembers. Did the rumor jump cities before it infected Gere?

7. 1 - The Word

   17 september 2026 · 41 min

   Afspelen

   Say "gerbil" to someone and watch their face. Everyone's heard the rumor. Nobody knows where it came from. Reporter Allen Salkin isn't sure he should be the one to dig into it, but a tip from the daughter of an '80s ER doctor changes his mind.

8. Gerbil: Inside Hollywood’s Most Unkillable Rumor - Trailer

   15 september 2026 · 2 min

   Afspelen
   The Richard Gere gerbil rumor won’t die. Why? Did a movie star really show up at a hospital in the 1980s with a rodent in his rectum he’d inserted for sexual pleasure? Investigative reporter Allen Salkin spent six-years examining documents and interviewing Hollywood players, doctors and everyone involved to answer everything — including why it matters more than ever. Lees meer

   The Hollywood Reporter will release the first two episodes of Gerbil on Sept. 17, and installments will be released weekly on Thursdays after that.