For what it’s worth, I just got this note from a reader:

I have known Farrah and Ryan for twenty years, we are long time acquaintances we play paddle tennis, I was at the funeral, his comments made later about his daughter were satirical and self-depreciating. Ryan very much loved Farrah is devastated by her passing. I am a 64 year old conservative Republican and much too wise to believe anything printed in Vanity Fair.

Yeah, that’s true — as evidenced by the magazine’s recent Sarah Palin episode, I suppose I should acknowledge that when it comes to veracity, VF is basically the Weekly World News for people whose lips don’t move when they read. So maybe O’Neal does deserve the benefit of the doubt. But regardless of the context, that doesn’t excuse Nora Ephron’s ridiculous justification.

UPDATE — I think my referencing the Weekly World News above was obvious hyperbole. However, after being prodded by some well-intentioned liberal readers, I suppose I should clarify that, unlike that publication, I don’t think Vanity Fair makes up stuff out of whole cloth. What I will say regarding the magazine’s committment to honest journalism, I think the magazine’s Sarah Palin article demonstrates that they are not above leaning heavily on demonstrably unreliable or anonymous sources to make accusations as shocking as they are easily disproved to produce articles that, while sensational and good at selling magazines, weren’t written in good faith to begin with and end up leaving the reader with an overall portrait far removed from the truth. So there you have it — nuance.