This could be the hottest Hollywood story of the summer.
A firestorm erupted between two Tinseltown tattlers when The Wrap reported that Nikki Finke, the star blogger for Deadline.com, its arch-rival, had been fired.
The report, from The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman, said Finke’s firing followed a fiery blow-up with Jay Penske, CEO of Penske Media, which owns Deadline.com.
“She’s been sending e-mails saying, ‘I’m going to f- -k you,’ and Jay says he’s had it,” Waxman reported, citing one top executive.
Almost immediately, Penske denied the report, saying Finke has a contract and that he intends to live up to the deal.
Finke, in a blog posting this morning, refused to discuss her contract or her relationship with Penske. She also denied sending e-mails with offensive language. Finke did not return an e-mail requesting comment.
In a posting, Penske Media said: “As you may be aware, Sharon Waxman at TheWrap has just published a libelous, false, and defamatory story on her blog, in which she claims amongst other things that [Penske Media] has fired Nikki Finke from Deadline.
“This is a complete fabrication, with not an ounce of truth to it. Just to be clear, Nikki Finke has a multi-year contract with the company, and it is the company’s absolute intention to continue its obligations under the agreement.”
The note, signed by Lauren Gullion, head of communications at Penske Media and addressed to PMC team members, added: “Due to the defamatory and disparaging nature of some of the completely inaccurate statements made by Waxman, PMC has turned this matter over to our attorneys.”
The trouble between Finke and Penske Media, which last year bought Variety from Reed Elsevier, was an inescapable issue, one industry source said, as the volatile Finke often made it job No. 1 to attack Variety.
“The core business of Variety has always been subscriptions. Then it has Nikke Finke whose job is to cannibalize” the old Hollywood trade publication.
Penske removed the pay wall on Variety and, after first denying that he would do so, ended the daily print version of Variety to let it concentrate solely on its weekly publication and its website.
“I think Penske will have to eventually choose between which business he will want to grow,” said the source. “He should have thought this through before he bought Variety. He has to sort through a mess that he himself created.”
kkelly@nypost.com