Why Rahm Emanuel is banned from discussing ‘The Deer Hunter’ with his brothers

Chicago Tribune (IL)

April 18--Don't get Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his brothers started on "The Deer Hunter."

The 1978 movie staring Robert De Niro is such a sore subject among Emanuel and his brothers -- Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel and medical ethics professor Zeke Emanuel -- that their spouses banned them from further discussing the accuracy of the movie's depiction of the Vietnam War, Emanuel revealed to Anthony Ponce on an upcoming episode of "Backseat Rider."

"If either one would be sitting here, they'd be calling me an idiot," Emanuel told Ponce. "That's what they'd be saying. That's how we are."

Ponce is launching his new television segment, with Emanuel as his first rider, at 8:30 a.m. Thursday on "Good Day Chicago" on Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. In 2016, Ponce quit his job as a news anchor for NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch.5 and became a Lyft driver. For his new gig, Ponce drives and interviews paying passengers with the goal of giving viewers a new perspective on how much they have in common with strangers.

But Emanuel's ride, filmed Monday, wasn't a typical ride-share experience. It was prearranged, and Emanuel did not pay for the ride from Woodlawn to Bridgeport. Ponce's vehicle was part of the mayor's motorcade and was given specific instructions on how to pick up Emanuel.

Though, or perhaps because, they didn't discuss if Uber investor Ari would give him grief over getting into a car with a Lyft driver -- or any of the other controversies surrounding ride-sharing -- Ponce said he encountered a more laid-back mayor than the one he previously interviewed as a television reporter.

"He seemed relaxed, he was laughing. I feel like he was being really genuine, which I appreciate," Ponce said. "For politicians, it's one of those things they have to decide with their families how much of their personal lives they are going to disclose. Mayor Emanuel, based on what I know, has at times ... he holds his personal life pretty close to the chest."

Most of Ponce's riders will be regular people, but he wants to book other local politicians. But his dream rider is Oprah Winfrey, who hosted a morning daytime talk show in Chicago from 1986 to 2011.

"I think she's an amazing interviewer," Ponce said. "I would love to get her insight on how to improve my skills. That's in a dream world."

emalagon@chicagotribune.com

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