nflicting reports continue to surface about the condition of Lamar Odom, who was hospitalized in Las Vegas on Tuesday after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel.
Thursday evening, ESPN reports that the two-time N.B.A. champion remains on life support and in a coma but claims the former N.B.A. forward has made “small progress over the past 24 hours.” People conversely claims that Odom is on “his last leg” and his estranged wife Khloé Kardashian is “preparing for the worst.”
On Wednesday, a Nevada sheriff said that Odom had taken cocaine and 10 doses of a Viagra-like stimulant during his stay at the Love Ranch brothel. A brothel manager who placed the 911 call told the dispatcher, “They need to hurry, please, because he’s got blood coming out of his nose, white stuff coming out of his mouth,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “We can’t get him to wake up. He’s, like, almost not breathing.”
Authorities, who are retracing Odom’s reportedly $75,000 brothel stay, also took a blood sample from the basketball player to determine whether he overdosed on drugs or alcohol. The results could take several weeks.
Meanwhile on Thursday, a media mêlée erupted between the brothel’s owner Dennis Hof and Hollywood’s pre-eminent publicity-thriving family, the Kardashians. Only this time, the Kardashians were reportedly the characters attempting to squash the media circus.
The Associated Press reports that Khloé reached out to Hof via representatives on Wednesday asking the brothel owner to not speak with press. According to the same report, “Hof said he’s troubled by the lack of communication from the reality-TV star, and he dismissed her rep’s request that Khloe Kardashian do interviews instead of him.”
(In his own less eloquent words though, Hof said he told Kardashian’s publicist “to pass on a message: ‘Go to hell.’”)
Kardashian’s publicist has since issued the following statement: “This is a very painful situation, as I know you are aware, and the idea that anyone would use it to seek publicity is really sad.”
Hof has since replied, saying, “I’m the one protecting my business and telling the truth about it.”
And telling . . . and telling . . . and telling. In fact, Hof has done so much telling that, on Thursday, The Washington Post published a story titled “Dennis Hof, the World’s Least Discreet Pimp, Talks and Talks About Lamar Odom.” The Post contacted Hof directly to ask, first of all, why he is talking so much.
“People are saying all kinds of terrible things,” Hof said. “That’s my reason for it. I’m not going to sit back and let people tell tales about me . . . I run a credible business and I’m a high-profile person. I’m not going to let people take potshots.”
Another possible reason: because his Love Ranch is one of about 20 legally licensed brothels in the country, and if Odom used illegal drugs on the premise, as is being reported, the institution could be in trouble of losing its license.
That might be why, for example, he insisted that he enforces a zero-tolerance policy: “It’s important to keep every workplace drug-free,” he told the Post. “You don’t want people on drugs running the fryer at McDonalds.”
But Hof isn’t just defending his drug-free policy; he’s also defending his prostitutes’ intellects (“Sixty percent of them have better educations than I have”); his business packages ($75,000 for the 24-hour-a-day companionship package Odom allegedly purchased includes sex, cooking, and watching TV); and the quality of his business (Hof claims that Odom enjoyed his time so much that he had plans to extend his stay).
The Kardashians, many of whom flew to Las Vegas to be by Odom’s side, have stayed respectfully mum. Although E! continues to eke out insider updates on the family—Kim postponed her Troop Beverly Hills-themed baby shower to be by Khloé’s side—neither Kim nor Khloé have tweeted in 48 hours.
The Kardashian family is reportedly joined in Las Vegas by Odom’s teenage children, Destiny and Lamar Jr., who have issued the following statement: “Thanks for your outpouring of prayers and support for our dad. We are here with our family and friends. We appreciate everyone respecting our privacy at this time. We ask for your continued prayers.”