David Edelstein

In 2018, WHYY-FM, the producer of Fresh Air, ended its relationship with Edelstein by firing him after he made a joke on his Facebook page about a rape scene in the film Last Tango in Paris which was viewed as "offensive and unacceptable." Edelstein stated that he was unaware of the link between the film and rape, apologized and deleted the post. Edelstein was defended by media outlets such as Salon and the editorial board of the New York Post and The American Conservative.

He is the author, with independent film producer Christine Vachon of Killer Films, of Shooting to Kill (Avon Books, 1998). He is also the author of two plays, Feed the Monkey (Loeb Experimental Theater, Harvard College, 1993) and Blaming Mom (Watermark Theater, New York City, 1994).

He has previously been a film critic for Slate (1996–2005), NPR's Fresh Air (2002-2018), the New York Post, The Village Voice, and The Boston Phoenix. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Variety, Esquire, and elsewhere. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics. Edelstein regularly appeared as a guest on Charlie Rose to talk about the movies and the Oscar telecast.

Edelstein became a journalist after graduating from Harvard in 1981. He is often associated with close friend, fellow film critic, and iconoclast Pauline Kael. He is also credited with coining the term "torture porn," a genre to describe such movies as Hostel and Saw.

David Edelstein (born 1959) is the chief film critic for New York magazine and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two daughters.