• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, August 11, 2015

“Turnabout is fair play,” I believe is the way our British cousins might put it. Although we might prefer our own less genteel “payback’s a bitch.” After years of raking Hollywood A-listers (and B-listers and C-listers) over the coals for their infidelity, spousal abuse and toxic opinions -- I call it cheating, beating and bleating -- TMZ is coming in for some unwelcome publicity of its own, courtesy of a highbrow monocle-wearing guy who usually looks at butterflies.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker is preparing a lengthy and very unflattering exposé on the WB show, including its high-profile boss Harvey Levin, a fixture of the newsroom conferences that frame reporters’ scoops and exclusives from the wilds of Santa Monica and Silver Lake.

Nicholas Schmidle, who previously wrote “Getting Bin Laden,” the magazine’s acclaimed recounting of the mission to kill the Al Qaeda leader, reported and wrote the article over the course of a year, per THR.

The prospect is causing consternation at TMZ and Warner Bros., which owns the gossip show and its Web site, in part, due to fears that Schmidle will present evidence that TMZ pays sources for stories, with possible ethical and legal ramifications. And there’s no shortage of celebrities in the “Thirty Mile Zone” around Hollywood who have been savaged by TMZ, and are now ready to dish some back.

Separately, this week, TMZ was sued by former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was forced to sell the team after the TMZ Web site published recordings of phone calls with his girlfriend, in which Sterling made racist remarks. Sterling’s lawyers are contending that TMZ obtained the recordings from his girlfriend “illicitly” and in violation of Sterling’s right to privacy.

The lawsuit also claims that TMZ altered or edited the tapes to distort Sterling’s statements and present them out of context — which calls into question just how serious the lawsuit’s other claims are.

TMZ isn’t the only gossip publisher on the defensive recently.

Gawker.com is facing a $100 million legal suit from former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, actual name Terry Gene Bollea, over its publication of a video of Bollea having sex with a friend’s wife. Bollea contends the video was recorded and released without his knowledge, in violation of his right to privacy.

Gawker added to its self-inflicted woes with a widely condemned post claiming that a media executive, who hardly qualified as a public figure, paid for sex with a porn star; Gawker removed the post after public backlash and the threatened loss of major advertisers.