Not So Lucky Editors Layed Off — 3 of them, to be precise. All part of Conde Nast's slow rip of the bandaid as they consolidate their workforce just in time for the holidays.
…why Judith Regan turned down a reported $6.5 million settlement offer and decided she'd rather take her chances in court, accuse her former bosses of colluding with News Corp. and claim she was fired not for greenlighting an offensive step-by-step guide to double homicide but, rather, as part of some giant conspiracy to get Rudy Giuliani elected president?
If you work at BBC, there's a 1 in 9 chance you'll be unceremoniously fired today. Meanwhile, there's at least a 75% chance that you fell asleep watching the last four excruciatingly long documentaries you made about the Thames river. [Independent]
Breaking! Glamour's former fashion/style blogger once said something that was inadvertently offensive to black people. Naturally, the girl was promptly fired, a mere six weeks after the fact.
ALWAYS composed Cindi Leive - the Glamour editrix who presides over the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) - shocked staffers at a recent editorial meeting when she became "outraged" and "furious" at fashion editor Ashley Baker. Leive had just read a story in American Lawyer magazine, which reported that during a presentation in June to a group of women at a law firm, Baker had declared that "dreadlocks or Afros are a definite 'no.' "
As for us, we can't decide what's more shocking. The fact that Glamour magazine had a hidden follicle bigot in their midsts, or that editor-in-chief Cindi Leive is only "just" learning about all this now. Especially given that the story is six weeks old, and Baker blogged about the now infamous presentation the very same day it happened.
Months after stepping down as the bombastic moderator of The View, Rosie O'Donnell finally admits her real reason for her abrupt exit: Barbara Walters had her canned. The ugly truth came out during Roseanne Barr's late night set at Comix (where, incidentally, the laughter was also canned) where O'Donnell also shared a few of Barbara's more intimate nighttime rituals.
Rosie started off by saying, "When I was fired by Barbara Walters" - the first time she didn't stick to "The View's" spin that her departure from the show was by mutual agreement.
Rosie claimed onstage that Walters and other "View" couchmates wear earpieces through which producers tell them what to say, which she refused to do.
Rosie also confided that she and the veteran newswoman were actually so close early on in her tenure as moderator that Walters recommended Rosie use Astroglide, which, she added, took her by surprise.
And while we're not particularly shocked by O'Donnell's admission that Walters showed her the door, we are slightly traumatized by the fact that we're now privy to Barb's preferred brand of lubrication. In fact, it's pretty much the second grossest View related news we've heard all week, right behind the revelation that Whoopi Goldberg's always fantasized about a Nancy (and Paul) Pelosi "sandwich."
Did you know that Jann Wenner has a tendency of hiring people and then firing them less than a year later? Of course you did. But in case you forgot and/or stopped caring (because seriously, who reads Rolling Stone or Men's Journal anyway?) Keith Kelly is here to remind you just how many bright-eyed, bushy-tailed MF editors in chief have been steered towards the exits before they even had a chance to unpack.
Wenner has basically been averaging one editor per year, and whomever he hires will be the magazine's third editor in 12 months.
After bouncing Michael Caruso - and then getting into a court fight - he settled on Tom Foster, former Men's Health feature editor. When that didn't work out, Wenner went to his Rolling Stone roster and moved Kaminisky into the top job.
Obviously, it doesn't end there.
How does OK! editor-in-chief Sarah Ivens know she's on the brink of success? Because all of the most prominent gossip columnists keep whispering that she's on the verge of getting fired. Which means she's really made it! Either that or, you know, she's really about to get fired.
• Remember that time after Lindsay Lohan's second (or third?) DUI arrest, when a tearful Lindsay Lohan assured us that wasn't her coke sticking out of her pants pocket and, come to think of it, those weren't even her pants? Well, apparently some court actually bought it.
• Political consultant Roger Stone is axed by state Senate Republicans for ringing up 83-year old Bernard Spitzer and politely suggesting that his son is a "phony, psycho piece of shit."
• Feeling overworked and underpaid recently? Then, you'll be disgusted to learn that the dumb one from The Hills is banking somewhere between $10K and $20K a week. Even worse? Wounded Iraq vets are pulling in approximately $460. A month.
• When he lived above the CNN center in Atlanta, Ted Turner reportedly used to parade around the newsroom in his special post-coital bathrobe. Sexy time!
Remember that ominous memo (entitled "The Future!") ABC News prez David Westin sent out on June, 22nd, that shook up an otherwise humdrum summer Friday with the scary-sounding news that 35 jobs were being "trimmed?"
Well, apparently (snip-snip!) the first sixteen cuts have already been made.
And then there were (next to) none at the Washington Bureau.
BONUS: Still 19 more "trimmings" to go!
Kent Brownridge, CEO of Alpha Media Group (and Jann Wenner's former henchman) lives up to his nickname "Dr. Evil" by firing throngs of Stuff staffers, including veteran publisher, John Lumpkin.
"I'm still in the building, so that's a good sign," Lumpkin told The Post on Thursday. "I hope that I'm able to work out something and stay with the company."
Apparently not. The ax fell swiftly, and by Friday afternoon, Lumpkin was cleaning out his desk and taking one last longing look at Ivanka Trump's, er, assets.
Notorious Times' scribe Kurt Eichenwald* resigns from Portfolio just weeks before the second issue hits newstands. Since Eichenwald has yet to publicly address his reasons for stepping down, it has yet to be determined whether his leaving was prompted more by another journalism ethics scandal or simply by the irrepressible urge to jump ship before Joanne Lipman the crazy lady at the top ruins everything.
Earlier: Portfolio Deputy Editor Axed After ‘Night Of The Long Words’
*Best known for paying upwards of $2500 in exchange for internet pornography a story about internet pornography
According to New York Magazine, "Daily Show segment producer Elliott Kalan was fired from his gig as a humor columnist for a recent column that declared, 'Nobody reads newspapers anymore … As this very copy of Metro shows, the only way to get most people to read a newspaper is to literally force it into their hands.'"
After reading the article, the interim CEO of Metro International reportedly told publisher to fire Kalan immediately. Presumably, for giving away Metro's entire marketing strategy.
Yesterday, the New York Observer broke the news that Portfolio EIC Joanne Lipman fired deputy editor Jim Impoco just prior to the release of the second issue, following months of tension-filled meetings, heated discussions and more than a couple incidences of gratuitous eye rolling.
But what truly caused the rift?
According to WWD, Impoco's ginormous expense account may have been to blame, or else the fact that he was an incurable sesquapedalian [Ed: A long word meaning "Given to or characterized by the use of long words"].
• Keith Olbermann tells the LA Times he had a "conversation" with "the large people at CBS before they went and decided to go to Katie Couric." A smug CBS exec responded, "See?! I knew we had a good reason for picking Couric."
• Rapper/idiot Kanye West describes Karl Lagerfeld as a "living legend" in the August/September issue of Complex magazine. Which he also edited—presumably, badly.
• "Don Imus has a cockroach's knack for survival," writes New York magazine, who—incidentally—is having the Best Lede Ever.
If you're over 50 years old, you're probably not contributing much the way of writing, or—for that matter—society in general.
Let's face it, you're a relic, a has-been, and in all likelihood, a never-was. You listen the the oldies station in the car, you buy high-waisted pants, and you've never heard of this newfangled thing called "blogging." Which means it's about time you packed up all your things, left town and headed down to Boca, before all the good retirement homes are taken.
Especially those of you currently working at the Herald-Tribune.
Yesterday, we told you that comely Chicago reporter Amy Jacobson was caught on videotape wearing a swimming top that may or may not have revealed a hint of side-cleavage. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, except (a) Jacobson was with her kids, who really never need to see Mom in a bikini, (b) she was captured on film 'creepily leering in the doorway,' (c) she was attending a party she shouldn't have been at in the first place, and (d) this wasn't the first time something like this [Ed: inappropriate swimming??] had happened.
And while we simply cannot over-stress the importance of the initial infraction (especially for those of you who are not of the hot, trophy-wife persuasion) the latter charges were, apparently, what did poor Amy in.
Don't you hate it when you're sitting back at your desk, enjoying another lazy summer Friday, celebrating the fact that your boss is out of the office (and is, in fact, rotting at his lake house on Cape Cod with his two bratty kids) when suddenly, you get one of those "Uh Oh, Someone's Getting Fired" emails?
Well, that's exactly what happened over at ABC headquarters today, when news president/hottie David Westin sent out an officewide memo (read: to everyone at ABC News) announcing that they're "consolidating some operations," and "yes, some positions will be lost."
But is Charlie Gibson's coveted anchor spot safe over at World News Tonight? And what about the co-Daytime Emmy award-winning staff of Gay-MA GMA?
Writes Westin:
And, of course, you want to know as quickly as possible whether this will affect you personally. We haven't made final decisions about everything we're considering, but to give you a sense of the ultimate outcome: After we've added positions in some areas and cut positions in others, we will trim about 35 jobs from ABC News staff worldwide.
Translation: The on-air talent is most likely safe, however only time will tell whether the freelance desk assistant with the annoying laugh will live to answer phones another day.
The full memo (creepily entitled "The Future") after the jump.
As you already know, we're totally in favor of free speech and all that other "First Amendment says 'you can't sue us'" goodness.
But as a practical matter, most people tend to discuss more controversial political matters primarily in the privacy of their own homes, out of concern that their remarks will be overheard by someone who violently disagrees. Or, you know, accidentally broadcast in front of millions of people, thereby causing a national outrage and effectively ruining their career—er, careers.
Isaiah Washington finally speaks out about getting booted from Grey's Anatomy, sitting down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss—as E! once put it—his "fall from (Seattle) Grace."
Says Washington:
I don’t know if it’s a question of ”fair.” I’m saddened by the outcome. I did everything that the producers and the network asked me to do. I came back under great duress and stress, and thought I was doing the job I was hired to do. I thought that was going to speak for my future at Grey’s, but apparently that wasn’t the same vision that the network and studio had for me.
And we can certainly understand his frustration!
After all, not only did the actor apologize profusely for each anti-gay remark, but he also checked himself into anti-gay rehab and filmed an anti-gay PSA, not to mention went back to work—under great stress and duress—and proceeded to film several scenes with his homosexual castmate without contracting HIV.
Seriously, it's almost as though producers wanted him to actually start liking gay people or something!
Ever tried to come up with a clever headline? It's actually far more difficult than you might imagine. In fact, not many can master the delicate balance of clever wordplay, straightforward news and an informative synopsis in 10 words or less.
Which is why whenever there's "breaking" news (and we use the term loosely to incorporate ABC's recent announcement regarding Isaiah Washington's termination) we like to see what the veterans came up with.
After scanning the internet and filtering out all the boring "Washington Fired From Grey's Anatomy" fare, we've gathered the most impressive entrees for your convenience…after the jump.
Editorial Director
