Nvidia's Derek Perez Assaults Journalist
Rumor has it there was an attempt at rapprochement. Long annoyed with The Inquirer’s loose cannon Charlie Demerjian, Nvidia has been shunning him and took him off the invitee list of most events. Water to a duck in the case of Charlie, he has so many sources the only reason he goes to any event is to score food and babes – he does better on the food as not many babes go to those things either.
So Derek Perez, Nvidia’s boss of PR and infamous for having a knife fight with a former competitor and now employee Brian Burke, thought if I can live with Burke, I can live with anyone. Perez sent out a friendly “Hey, how about coffee, or breakfast,” email.
Charlie, not one to turn down a donut, and bored to tears in Taipei, said why not, and met Perez at the hotel restaurant.
If you’ve ever met Charlie, you know he doesn’t suffer fools, is quick to make decision, and not the most tactful person on the planet. Oh, and did I mention, opinionated. The annoying thing about him is he’s often right.
The coffee part went OK, but when the serious talk got started and Perez started laying down some ground rules, Charlie said, no, no, hell, no, what the F**’s wrong with you, you deaf – no.
Body builder and short fused Perez had had just about enough and before anyone could blink, karate trained Perez had ninjaed his dish of eggs right into Charlie’s face.
Swift acting guards quickly defused the situation as Demerjian was in the process of loading his quart bottle of Coke with Mentos – the carnage was avoided but it was a tense few moments. Both men were escorted out of the restaurant, through separate doors and the police took over after that.
Charlie was next seen at the Intel event, and then at the ATI event. Perez hasn’t been seen and isn’t answering email, but then the 9800 GTX+ may have been keeping him busy.
