Michael Douglas on Maher: Smuggled Pot, Nepo Defense — SkimNews
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- Michael Douglas appeared on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' on Friday to promote his memoir 'One Helluva Ride,' which chronicles his career from producing 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' to winning Best Actor for 'Wall Street.'
- Douglas disclosed he paid for his remaining college tuition by smuggling marijuana across the country in two Italian leather suitcases his father Kirk Douglas had given him as Christmas gifts, with each suitcase holding 22 kilos.
- Douglas credited the success of his smuggling operation to the era before drug-detection dogs were deployed at airports, telling Maher the trips occurred 'BD: Before Dogs.'
- Douglas and Maher bonded over their shared experience of dealing marijuana to afford college, with Maher noting the geographic price arbitrage between East Coast and West Coast markets.
- Douglas worked as a Mobil gas station attendant in Connecticut at age 20 and earned the title 'Mobil Man of the Month' — a detail Maher cited before raising the 'nepo baby' discourse.
- Douglas pushed back on the 'nepo baby' label, asking why show business is singled out when 'every single business' features family succession: 'They have a sign that says so and so and sons, so why pick on show business?'
Why it matters: The marijuana smuggling anecdote undercuts Douglas's anti-'nepo baby' defense: the suitcases holding 22 kilos each were Christmas gifts from his Oscar-winning father Kirk Douglas, making the smuggling hustle itself a product of family privilege. The memoir drops just as the 'nepo baby' discourse has made Hollywood pedigree a public flashpoint, giving Douglas's self-justification an ironic frame.
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