PITTSBURGH, Pa - Pittsburgh television personality and bon vivant Rick Sebak, the creator of innumerable documentaries celebrating all things Pittsburgh, physically attacked Pittsburgh Post-Gazette television critic Rob Owen on the red carpet outside WQED studios in Oakland last night at the premiere of Sebak's latest television special, What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh. Sources close to Mr. Sebak said he was incensed at Mr. Owen's review of the film that appeared in the Post-Gazette on Monday, and was even angrier that the Block family, owners of the Post-Gazette, refused Sebak's entreaties to have Owen fired. "Haven't we all had enough of Sebak's celluloid corn by now?" wrote Owen in his review. "Sebak takes us through Primanti Brothers as if he's walking through the Louvre. And the most innocuous, dare I say inane, recollections of any elderly person about Pittsburgh's smoky past are accorded the reverence usually reserved for the Pontiff."
When Sebak emerged from his limousine, he seemed to be in a foul mood. "You want to know what makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh?" he said in a loud, surly tone to WQED personality Chris Fennimore. "Losers like these people," he cocked his head toward the crowd gathered next to the red carpet. "They've got nothing better to do than to camp out to get a glimpse of me." He then yelled to the crowd: "I hope everybody wants to see some grainy black and white footage of Kennywood tonight," his voice dripping with sarcasm. Catching sight of Rob Owen, Sebak plunged into the crowd, landing a solid right hand to the body of the unlucky critic before knocking him to the ground with a vicious upper cut to the jaw. "I may not know what makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, you dirty s.o.b, , but this is what makes Sebak Sebak!" he shouted, before kicking Mr. Owen in the groin.
By the time police arrived, Mr. Sebak had entered the building. Hours later he issued a statement that did not reference the incident but that touted his next TV special, Memories of Past TV Specials Reminiscing about Bygone Pittsburgh.
A resolution passed by Pittsburgh City Council in 1998 and signed into law by Mayor Murphy in 1999 provides Mr. Sebak with immunity from civil or criminal prosecution as long as he makes one TV special per year celebrating the virtues of Pittsburgh.
