Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t the only one fuming at John Bolton. Filmmaker Kevin Breslin is demanding an apology from President Trump’s former national security adviser, accusing him of mangling a famous quote immortalized by his father, the legendary columnist Jimmy Breslin. In his book “The Room Where It Happened,” Bolton quotes famed catcher Yogi Berra as …
Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t the only one fuming at John Bolton. Filmmaker Kevin Breslin is demanding an apology from President Trump’s former national security adviser, accusing him of mangling a famous quote immortalized by his father, the legendary columnist Jimmy Breslin.
In his book “The Room Where It Happened,” Bolton quotes famed catcher Yogi Berra as saying: “Don’t nobody here know how to play this game?” However, Bolton managed to botch the quote, as well as who said it. Berra didn’t say that line, it was actually manager Casey Stengel commenting on the ineptitude of his Mets team, as recounted by Breslin.
Looking down at his bench of lovable — but not hugely talented players — Stengel asked, “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
That became the title of Breslin’s classic book on the 1962 Mets, which is now being turned into a movie.
Kevin Breslin told us: “How dare Bolton get the quote wrong! My father would have been all over him demanding an apology. He’s screaming in heaven, ‘Who is he to touch my copy?’
“My father conjured up that great line as much as Casey Stengel. He said it many times to me growing up. The very least Bolton could do is get it right.”
He added to Bolton, “He can reach my father at 1-800-HEAVENS to apologize.”
Bolton seems to have a predilection for pirating others’ prose — he also took a song title and lyric from “Hamilton” for the title of his book, “The Room Where It Happened,” and creator Miranda wasn’t impressed.
Playing with the lyrics of another “Hamilton” song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” Miranda tweeted: “Let me tell you what I wish I’d known/When I was young and dreamed of glory/You have no control/Who lives, who dies, who [borrows your song title to write a cash-in book when they could have testified before Congress].”
