“What’s disgusting? Union busting!” screamed the protesting Teamsters outside of Sotheby’s Yorkville digs this past Monday. While they recently lured younger Occupy Wall Streeters to their cause in a robust protest outside of Broadway’s “The Mountaintop,” the Teamsters’ numbers tonight were thin, although the 10 union members present were certainly leveraging their whistles, megaphones, and loud voices to create quite a ruckus.

“This is our normal night crew,” Teamsters Local 814 President Jason Ide told me. “During the daytime we have about 30 to 40 guys.” They’ve been organizing against Sotheby’s refusal to grant union members benefits and raises, all while the company posts record profits, bumps its CEO pay, and hosts star-studded events like Monday’s “Take Home a Nude” auction, which raised $800,000 to benefit scholarship funds at the New York Academy of Art.

“We’ve been locked out for 2 and a half months,” said Ide, whose boyish looks made the 30-year-old seem even younger than his mostly older fellow Teamsters. “We’d like to come back and do our jobs and work as art handlers. I actually worked as an art handler for 6 years before I was president of the union. But the company won’t let us unless we take big concessions.”

The various socialites, art-world heiresses, and bona-fide celebrities assembled on the seventh floor of Sotheby’s for the benefit auction didn’t seem to pay much mind to the Teamsters. “One sympathizes,” said NYAA board chair Eileen Guggenheim when asked if they were putting a damper on the evening. “Although one doesn’t seem to be related to us. We don’t really know what their issues are. But I think everybody’s mood is high.”

It was hard not to be cheerful in such a lavish environment. Where the Teamsters outside had an aesthetically unappealing giant blow-up balloon—a fat cat dressed in a business suit, holding a helpless worker in its paw—we had quail egg hors d’oeuvres on polenta cake with caviar, world-class artwork selling for up to $45,000, and the likes of Padma Lakshmi, Marcus Samuelsson,Angela Bassett, Nicole Bassett, Andre Balasz, and Sean MacPherson.

Not all attendees were as accommodating of the protesters as Guggenheim. Richard Blumenthal, vice chair of the board of trustees for the NYAA, said a Teamster spat on him because he refused to take a handbill. When asked if he sympathized with them, he said, “No, I don’t sympathize with them! They’re one of the most crooked unions out there, and they have been from the very beginning.”

Expected till the day of, Blake Lively failed to show, perhaps because she is off in Boston continuing her ragtag romance of Ryan Reynolds. Hopefully Karl Lagerfeld won’t be too peeved at her for skipping out on the event, though apparently Chanel employees are already upset that she’s the face of Karl’s handbag line. An unexpected visit from Mary-Kate Olsen certainly upped the celebrity factor of the room. The young billionaire—probably the wealthiest person in the room—failed to bid on anything at the auction, and refused to let me snap a pic of her with leather-daddy/architect Peter Marino.

I then asked if she’d talk a bit—another “no.” Not even about her sister’s movie—a softball topic if there ever was one. “It’s so hot in here,” she said, changing the subject ever so subtly while she fanned herself with the night’s playbill. After fanning herself for 5 minutes, she finally took off the huge fur vest that was likely the cause of her heat issues.

Other interview turner-downers included Angela Bassett, who grabbed me by the arm and fabulously said to me, “Not right now, honey. I need to shop!” before jetting off to the live auction. I’m assuming she came post-performance of “The Mountaintop,” in which she’s co-starring with Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in it (and whom I spoke to two weeks ago).

Coincidentally and ironically enough, the play’s already been the target of the Teamsters’ ire because it’s part-financed by Sotheby’s evil overlord/chairman of the board Michael I. Sovern. (I did search for him on behalf of the Teamsters, to try and stick him with some hard questions, but after asking two old men if they were Michael Sovern and getting blank stares, I gave up my quest.)

Also declining interviews was Padma Lakshmi, who had two publicists ready to shut down any snoopy reporters who gave it the old college try. Padma yukked it up with buddy Eileen Guggenheim, but didn’t bid on anything this year, unlike last year, when she, Eileen, and I had a funny little meet-cute over her winning bid for an Eric Fishl piece. I also had a funny little chat with Robert Verdi last year, but my milquetoast editors at New York Social Diary, who I was covering for, cut out his off-color line. This year it happened again, but I have the liberty of virtually printing all his dirty talk. I leave you with my and Robert’s little chat from this year, in its entirety.

Me: You always give me pretty funny stuff.

Robert: Funny shit, I say funny shit.

Did you see the Teamsters outside?

I did!

Did you take one of their pamphlets?

I did not. I’m all for tyranny and conspiracy against the Man. I think it’s fantastic. I think there should be more conspiracy. I think people are conspiring against me, quite honestly.

Oh really? Who?

I dunno. Everybody. The entire television industry, but whatever.

Why is that?

I don’t know! I think I’m totally hateable for some reason.

Do you want your own TV show?

No, no. I watch porn.  It’s just more entertaining than anything I could ever do. And it involves some very interesting acrobatic moves.

I never can print this stuff.

How come? I always give you porn.

I tried to get something in the New York Social Diary last time, and they cut it out.

They refused? They never did it?

Yeah.

That sucks.

I asked, “Do you come here often?” And you said something about coming often.

I know. I always make gross jokes. I remember.

And then I had that thing about RuPaul, which I sent to the Daily News. You said that Heidi Klum was channeling RuPaul with her Halloween costume last year.

I was right! They didn’t run that?

No, they did. 

Oh, it slipped.

No, it was there.

No, I mean, it slipped, I didn’t mean it. I meant it, but I didn’t mean it.

Yeah, we weren’t supposed to bring our voice recorders into that party, but the red carpet was so ridiculous, all the reporters just descended and hunted for quotes.

Here?

No. At the Heidi Klum party.

I was gonna say, that’s ridiculous. These people wanna be recorded. Especially this one… [points to the lady in front of us, Joanne Herring, a Houston socialite who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in “Charlie Wilson’s War”]

I thought she [Joanne] was Joan Rivers.

Which one?

She’s right there, with her back to us. [I point] You have to see her face.

Oh, they all look the same, once you’ve been cut up and put back together. It’s like… you can’t talk about her behind her back either because her ears are there.

We’re literally talking about her behind her back.

But she can hear. She can hear. She’s genius.

So no plans for TV?

I always have plans for TV, but TV isn’t making plans for me, so I’m going to have to take them by storm.

How about Bravo? What about Andy Cohen? Have you tried him?

Oh, Andy Cohen wouldn’t put me on TV. He doesn’t want to put anyone else who could be competitive with him on television.

Oh yeah? You think you could take him down?

Oh yeah. Have you seen the gay men he puts on the channel? Care to review that? Think about it for a second.

Have you watched the A-List on Logo at all?

No. I don’t really watch television, so it’s not specifically against any show. I just don’t watch any show. I do try to watch the Real Housewives, the recaps on Hulu. Cause I like people who pull hair and scream and call each other names. It makes me feel comfortable, like I’m at home.

Who’s your favorite one?

I don’t have any favorites. I can’t pick favorites. That’s like trying to pick a favorite shoe. I like them all for different reasons.

Are you going to buy any of the art tonight?

I have been collecting art for several years now.  I focus my investment capital in the art world and in the art market. So, yeah, maybe.

Is that risky for you?

No. I actually have a really good eye. I mean, what do gay men invest in? We don’t have children like we’re gonna put through college.

Some do.

Yeah, but that’s just boring. Why would you waste good money on children? Why would you buy a spicy child when you could buy a spicy piece of art?

I don’t know. I can’t answer that.

No more spicy babies. I mean, I’m going to travel far and wide to buy a spicy baby from a far corner of the universe? To hell with that. I’ll buy a spicy nude.

You don’t have to go so far to get a baby. There’s plenty of ones right here. I don’t think you need to go so far.

Art is the only thing that’s hung in my apartment, if you know what I mean.

Send Evan tips at d.evan.mulvihill@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter!

Gay reality TV is getting a dose of scandal this week! After an A-List: Dallas cast member tweeted a picture of a rock with a hate message allegedly thrown though his window last Friday, gay blogger Joe My God suspected that it was a publicity stunt in advance of the premiere this past Monday. (Although the cast member apparently had just had lunch with gay anti-icon Ann Coulter, so maybe a wee hate crime was justified.) Joe even thought Logo producers were complicit in faking the gay-on-gay hate crime. I caught up with A-List: New York cast member Mike Ruiz at a party celebrating the launch of his new book, Pretty Masculine, this Wednesday to see if the celebrity photog had to anything to tell Bash Compactor about this Texan transgression.

Have you been watching The A-List: Dallas at all?

I haven’t. I missed the first episode.

So you’re a bad A-Lister.

I barely have enough time to watch A-List: New York. I haven’t seen all of the Reunion show yet. I’m just not…I have it all TiVo’d, I just haven’t watched it all.

One of the A-List: Dallas cast members claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, a gay-on-gay hate crime. Some bloggers, like Joe My God and Towleroad, are saying that it’s a publicity ploy. Do you think the Logo producers would be complicit in something like that?

No. No. The Logo producers are not that involved in story, they take what they’ve been given and they create story from that but they don’t instigate stuff like that, and they would never, ever instigate an act of violence like that.

So you think that this might’ve just been a rogue cast member trying to get some publicity for the show?

I don’t know. It’s in Texas. Sad to say, a lot of the homophobia that I’ve experienced from being on the show comes from the gay community. So I’m not surprised that somebody was so incensed by probably having their life portrayed on TV that they wanted to shut it down by throwing a rock through this guy’s window. I don’t think it was a publicity stunt. I don’t think anyone would go to those lengths.

What do you mean, homophobia from within the gay community?

I mean, most of the attacks that come, you know, bloggers, people who write horrible, mean-spirited, scathing things about our show, specifically, come from other gay bloggers. Straight bloggers aren’t writing about A-List: New York.

Do you think that’s just because they’re not paying attention?

Probably. The point is, we should all support each other. No matter what it is. If the show is in fact a bad representation of the community, it’s not meant to be a representation of the anything. It’s a frickin’ reality show. If people can’t take it for face value, I think it’s on them. But with all of that said, I think there comes some responsibility, being a public figure, especially if you’re on a gay show, to act and conduct yourself in a responsible way.

The guy who did the rock-stunt, he was meeting with Ann Coulter to have her on the show. Is there any conscionable way to support that?

I don’t support that, but that’s…that’s…see, that’s…

This is the woman who called John Edwards a faggot.

I would not invite that into my life in any way, shape or form, but what other people do… I don’t support it but I’m not going to attack him publicly for doing it. He has his own agenda. He’s doing what he feels he needs to do to get ahead in life, and I’m not going to judge him for it.

Some people call you the least involved member of the cast.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. I think I’m very involved. I may not be as involved with the other cast members, but my goal is not to be involved in the cast…you know, I’m a blogger for the Huffington Post and we’re writing a really articulate blog about why Martin and I wanted to do the A-List, and it’ll explain a lot. I think my involvement in the show is important. Even though I don’t have a lot of screen time, what I do contribute is a lot of value. The reality is, I like all the cast, but I wouldn’t really hang out with any of them. So I wouldn’t do it on TV either. I know that doesn’t make sense since I signed on to do a reality show, but my goal wasn’t to kiki with these other cast members. I had other reasons for doing the show.

Some of the gay community says, “Oh, this makes us look so bad.” Do you want to be an antidote to that?

That’s exactly why I wanted to do the show. That’s exactly my value. When I proposed to Martin on the show, we’ve gotten no less than five or six thousand responses, from young gay men saying how we’ve inspired them. If I only would’ve gotten one of those, that would’ve been plenty. So my work is done here.

Let’s talk about your book, Pretty Masculine. These guys look like they go to the gym for four hours a day. Do you think you’re creating unrealistic images for gay men to aspire to?

OK, read the foreword to the book. That’s all I have to say. [He raises his voice.] See, that’s the really unfortunate thing. A lot of people make a lot of assumptions and a lot of preconceptions about something they really don’t research, and don’t educate themselves on.

I’m not trying to ruffle your feathers here.

If you would’ve known, if you would’ve researched why I did this book, what inspired me to do the book, you wouldn’t be asking me that question.

I read the press release. It said you want to “look beyond the stereotypical man.” How are pictures of super-buff guys looking beyond that?

No, no, that’s not what it says at all. It says I wanted to portray masculinity out of context. I wanted to deconstruct the idea of masculinity.

I think what you’re doing, in my opinion, is pretty a hyper-masculine body type in sort of a feminine way.

I don’t want to say feminine, it’s just out of context. Everything I do, you know, the celebrity stuff that I shoot, I take celebrities and I transform them out of context. I make everything aspirational. It’s a fantasy. Everything that I do is rooted in my hopefulness, and I want to create a more beautiful world for myself and whoever else wants to participate.

What was it like to work with Snooki and Paris Hilton and those types of subjects?

They’re all really smart, calculating people. They get a lot of flack, much like the cast of the A-List, but they all have a mission. At the end of the day, you say what you will about them—they could not have made all these millions and millions of dollars, and be such a driving force in pop culture, without making calculated decisions along the way. They’re smart people.

You’re calling Snooki smart?

Snooki’s a comedian. She’s a brilliant comedian, and she spun it into a multi-million dollar empire.