Within a week of Kent Brownridge arriving at OK!, executive editor Rob Shuter was ousted, and senior writer Laura Schreffler, formerly of the Daily News, quit. The tabloid has tried spinning the news to Keith Kelly as an "everything is fine" scenario.
It isn't. Since Brownridge's arrival, we've heard there's much turmoil at the tabloid, despite OK! publicist Brian Strong's assertions otherwise.
When Richard Desmond brought Brownridge in to head the magazine — even editor-in-chief Sarah Ivens reports to Kent — he likely had little idea just how much calamity there would be. But staffers are picking sides, and most are sticking with the home team; Brownridge is seen as the outsider installed to right a not-exactly-sinking-ship. One source tells us the feeling inside HQ is that his hire was done more so because he needed a job, not because OK! had a place for him. And you didn't hear it from us, but there's already an informal office pool going on how long he'll last.
Oh, and also, Keith:
Richard Spencer is the editor of Bauer's In Touch tabloid. In Style, rather, is the new haunt of Ariel Foxman.
Editorial Director
Kent Brownridge has a knack for driving out all of the valuable talent in a company. Any equity firm or business entity that keeps him around should be prepared to lose money and expect low quality work. He is an awful person to work for.
But by driving out Shuter and Ivens he will be doing the valuable talent at OK! a favor. Keep up the good work, Kent!