[Ads-l] Quote Origin: He is the only genius with an IQ of 85

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Cultural critic Gore Vidal once offered a remarkably harsh assessment
of the famous pop-artist Andy Warhol. Here are two versions:

He is the only genius with an IQ of 60.
He is the only genius with an IQ of 85.

I was asked to find a citation. The earliest match I found appeared in
"The Transatlantic Review" of Salisbury, England in 1975. The team of
Victor Bockris and Andrew Wylie interviewed Gore Vidal who delivered
the provocative comment:

[ref]1975 Autumn (Published October 1975), The Transatlantic Review,
Number 52, Interview of Gore Vidal conducted by Bockris-Wylie, Start
Page 85, Quote Page 88, Printed at The Compton Press Ltd., Salisbury,
Wiltshire, England. (Verified with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
What do you think of the intelligence of Andy Warhol?

I have said of him, and it has been much quoted, that he is the only
genius with an IQ of 85. And I don't mean that in a necessarily
pejorative way; the emphasis is more on the genius than the lowness of
his IQ. He is sort of a cultural litmus paper. He was the first person
to realise that modern art, the visual arts, was shit. And he proved
it in a rather marvelous way; he just sent it all up, and he got away
with it. Which makes it a double victory.
[End excerpt]

The phrasing used by Vidal suggested that he had made this remark
previously, but I haven't found any earlier matches.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/08/12/only-genius/

Feedback and illuminating citations would be welcome.
Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

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