View source for Popbitch

{{Short description|Music and dating website}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Popbitch
| logo = 
| caption = 
| url = {{URL|http://popbitch.com/}}
| company_type = [[Nonprofit]]
| location = 
| type = [[News]] [[Celebrity]]
| language = English
| registration = 
| owner = 
| author = 
| launch_date = 
| commercial = Yes
| current_status = News-in media
}}

'''Popbitch''' is a weekly [[United Kingdom|UK]]-based celebrity and [[pop music]] newsletter and associated dating website from the early 2000s. Much of the material for the newsletter comes from the Popbitch message boards, frequented by music industry insiders, gossips and the casually interested. The board has at various times been credited for celebrity rumours (both false and true) appearing in the press, and the coining of many expressions that have gone on to enjoy wider usage.

== History ==
The website was, an early, of many [[satire|satirical]] and irreverent UK gossip sites, that skirted the limits of [[defamation]] law. The uncompromising ethos of cruel [[humour]] gave it a feel somewhat similar to [[Usenet]] gossip [[newsgroups]].

Popbitch was founded, is owned and run by Neil Stevenson and [[Camilla Wright]], both journalists. Wright is employed full-time to run Popbitch. Stevenson is still a director, but his active participation in the project has diminished.<ref>{{cite news |last=Aikenhead |first=Decca |title=Hot Gossip: Interview - Decca Aitkenhead meets Camilla Wright |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/06/newmedia.comment |accessdate=24 December 2011 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |quote=Decca Aitkenhead goes head-to-head with the queen bee of Popbitch |date=6 August 2006}}</ref>  Originally published privately as a weekly pop music email from the '''www.popbitch.demon.co.uk''' address,<ref name="popbitch.demon/2001">{{cite web |title=: p: o : p : b : i : t : c : h : |url=http://www.popbitch.demon.co.uk/ |website=www.popbitch.demon.co.uk |access-date=15 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223174644/http://www.popbitch.demon.co.uk/ |archive-date=2001-02-23 |quote=popbitch: the weekly pop music email that everyone's talking about.  To join the mailing list, send a blank email}}</ref> Popbitch has been published from popbitch.com since March 2000, and by Popdog Limited since 2001. Stevenson was employed by the British publishing house [[EMAP]] on various entertainment titles, including the celebrity magazine ''[[Heat (magazine)|Heat]]'' and as editor of ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]''.

== Editorial style of the newsletter ==
The newsletter is aimed principally at a British audience and is published weekly, usually on a Thursday. It usually contains celebrity-based stories relating to music, film, television and sport, with quirky stories from other fields.

The newsletter usually contains, in order:
* a short quote from a celebrity
* some advertising
* several multiple-paragraph stories separated by single-sentence stories or facts
* some advertising
* a section entitled ''Big questions'' with one or more allegations about unidentified celebrities presented in the form of questions
* a series of webpage links entitled ''Things To Make You Go Hmm''
* predictions of the position of some artists in the UK singles chart for the week ahead
* some advertising
* some more advertising
* a ''Help Popbitch'' appeal for gossip or money or presents
* an ''End Bit'' section where contributors are thanked, usually by initials or messageboard identity
* the ''Old Jokes Home'' usually a [[topical joke]]
* and one or more web links headed ''Still Bored?''
* some advertising

== Famous nicknames on Popbitch ==
* Fat Dancer (sometimes shortened to FD) = [[Robbie Williams]] (from a comment by [[Noel Gallagher]], describing Williams as "the fat dancer from [[Take That]]"<ref>{{cite news |title=Rock's top hellraisers rated |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/685155.stm |newspaper=[[BBC News]] |date=21 March 2000}}</ref>)
* ChazBaps = [[Billie Piper]]<ref name="independent/529379">{{cite news |title=Billie: Pop star. Teen wife. Time traveller |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/billie-pop-star-teen-wife-time-traveller-529379.html |access-date=15 October 2025 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=20 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706225306/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/billie-pop-star-teen-wife-time-traveller-529379.html |archive-date=6 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
* Derek and Victoria, Thick and Thin = [[David Beckham|The Beckhams]]<ref name=pbbook>{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Camilla |authorlink1=Camilla Wright |title=Popbitch: Celebrity Excess And Other Monkey Business |publisher=Century |location=London |year=2008 |page=96 |isbn=978-1-84605-382-5}}</ref>
* Skeletor = [[Victoria Beckham]]
* [[Rhombus]] Face = [[Sophie Ellis-Bextor]]
* Jeremy ***** = [[Jeremy Clarkson]]
* Sir JingleJangle = [[Jimmy Savile]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-07-30 |title=Ow's about that then... guys and gals snap up Jimmy's 'jingle jangle' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/ow-s-about-that-then-guys-and-gals-snap-up-jimmy-s-jingle-jangle-7988041.html |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

== Cultural impact ==
By 2003, Popbitch had moved from a niche-market publication to mainstream cultural knowledge, thanks in part to its role in assisting British [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] newspapers with their entertainment coverage.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rowan |first1=David |title=Evening Standard: The people behind Popbitch |date=6 March 2002 |url=http://www.davidrowan.com/2002/03/evening-standard-people-behind.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304142917/http://www.davidrowan.com/2002/03/evening-standard-people-behind.html |archivedate=2012-03-04}}</ref> It achieved frequent name-checks in newspaper "diary" columns, and from celebrities as diverse as [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] and [[French & Saunders|French and Saunders]].

It played some part in popularising terms such as [[Croydon facelift|Croydon (or council) facelift]], "gak" (meaning [[cocaine]]), and "pramface" (a term of abuse contracted from "a face more suited to pushing a [[baby transport|pram]] around a [[council house|council estate]]").

It gained a reputation as being first with a number of celebrity-based stories. One poster reported [[David Beckham]]'s move from [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] to [[Real Madrid]] at least four  months before sports pages picked up on the story &mdash; then stood by the story in the face of repeated denials. It was also the first to report on the name of Madonna's son, Rocco.

Some of the contributors to the Popbitch messageboards have also become minor celebrities in their own right. When one, who posted as [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720142459/http://www.popbitch.com/revgb/ Reverend_Goatboy], died in July 2007, his death was noted in ''The Times''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rifkind |first1=Hugo |authorlink1=Hugo Rifkind |url=https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2182721.ece |title=People:Hugo Rifkind |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=2 August 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725130242/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2182721.ece |archive-date=2008-07-25}}</ref>

== Controversy and criticism ==
The website was one of the first websites to detail accusations of [[Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal|necrophilia and child sexual abuse]] by [[Jimmy Savile]] during his lifetime.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Larman |first1=Alexander |title=Now then, now then |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/now-then-now-then/ |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=[[The Critic (modern magazine)|The Critic]] |date=3 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media | people=[[Rowan Deacon|Deacon, Rowan]] (director) | date=2022 | title=[[Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story]] | type=[[Documentary film|documentary series]] |publisher=[[Netflix]]}} S1:E2.</ref>

False allegations against [[Jeremy Clarkson]], a British TV celebrity, and [[David Beckham]] were published on the Popbitch messageboards by its users. This led to legal action against the site's owners. The messageboard was closed and reopened with board members as editors. The editors have the ability to modify or delete anything libellous or "not pop or bitch", and the board also employs automatic censors that prevent the names of certain celebrities from appearing.  Despite these precautions Popbitch was once again in the news after being successfully sued by [[Max Beesley]] in March 2008 over an allegation about his personal life.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brook |first1=Stephen |title=Popbitch pays out over Beesley story |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/mar/18/digitalmedia |date=18 March 2008 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

== Diversification ==
From mid-2007, Popbitch's owners sought to broaden the appeal of the brand by launching Popbitch-themed and endorsed products. Camilla Wright said this diversification was necessary as, with simply a gossip website and email, it was "harder to maintain a niche because everybody is doing it".<ref name="blogs.guardian.co.uk">{{cite web |last1=Kiss |first1=Jemima |date=18 June 2008 |title=@ Future of Journalism: What do we do with celebrity news? |website=[[The Guardian]] |url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/digitalcontent/2008/06/_future_of_journalism_what_do.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619091455/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/digitalcontent/2008/06/_future_of_journalism_what_do.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 19, 2008}}</ref>

Among the first new sites launched was Popbets, a reality TV gambling site, in 2007, and this was followed in February 2008 by [[Radio Popbitch]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://econsultancy.com/us/nma-archive/42530-popbitch-adds-radio-station-and-e-zine-to-its-online-brand |date=1 May 2008 |title=Popbitch adds radio station and e-zine to its online brand |magazine=[[New Media Age]] |publisher=[[Centaur Media]] |page=3}}</ref> Wright has also stated her aim to move into Popbitch-branded offline publishing, and web TV.<ref name="blogs.guardian.co.uk"/>

==See also==
* [[List of satirical news websites]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.popbitch.com/ Official home page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120304142917/http://www.davidrowan.com/2002/03/evening-standard-people-behind.html Evening Standard: The people behind Popbitch], David Rowan, 6 March 2002
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207062317/http://www.davidrowan.com/2002/11/times-hot-gossip-websites.html The Times: The hot gossip websites], David Rowan, 30 November 2002
* [http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2005/12/writers_choice__2.html Writer's Choice: Camilla Wright] on 'Justice At Night' by [[Martha Gellhorn]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081010163428/http://threelayercake.com/content/view/178/28/ Photo + Interview and brief bio of Camilla Wright, editor of Popbitch]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/06/newmedia.comment Hot gossip], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 6 May 2006 - interview and feature on Popbitch

[[Category:Internet properties established in 2000]]
[[Category:Infotainment]]
[[Category:British satirical websites]]