Adolescent Vogue supervisor in-boss leaves work before she even beginnings

Teenager Vogue editorial manager in-boss leaves work before she even beginnings 

Alexi McCammond won't be taking over as editorial manager in-head of Adolescent Vogue after all because of bigot and homophobic tweets she wrote in 2011.

Alexi McCammond will not be taking over as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue after all. On Thursday, just days before she was to start her new job, news broke that McCammond was out because of racist tweets about Asians and homophobic tweets she wrote in 2011. The Daily Beast’s Maxwell Tani and Lachlan Cartwright broke the news, and then McCammond put out a statement on Twitter announcing she and Condé Nast, which owns Teen Vogue, had “decided to part ways.”

McCammond wrote, “My past tweets have overshadowed the work I’ve done to highlight the people and issues that I care about — issues that Teen Vogue has worked tirelessly to share with the world — and so Condé Nast and I have decided to part ways. I should not have tweeted what I did and I have taken full responsibility for that. I look at my work and growth in the years since, and have redoubled my commitment to growing in the years to come as both a person and a professional.”

She went on to wish the staff at Teen Vogue the best moving forward.

Stan Duncan, chief people officer at Condé Nast, sent an email to staff, readers and at least two advertisers that was obtained by The New York Times’ Katie Robertson. Duncan wrote, “After speaking with Alexi this morning, we agreed that it was best to part ways, so as to not overshadow the important work happening at Teen Vogue.”

McCammond was 17 in 2011 when she sent out tweets using racist stereotypes about Asians. Those tweets resurfaced in 2019, and McCammond deleted them and apologized. By that time, she was a rising star in the media. She was covering the White House for Axios and was an MSNBC contributor. In 2019, she was named the emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

After Condé Nast picked her to be Teen Vogue’s editor-in-chief on March 5, her old tweets resurfaced again and at least 20 Teen Vogue staffers complained to Condé Nast about McCammond’s hiring. McCammond apologized at least twice in writing — first in an internal note to staff and then in another letter to “Teen Vogue community, staff, readers, writers, photographers, content creators, and friends.” She also reportedly had one-on-one meetings with Teen Vogue staffers.

It originally appeared as if Condé Nast, which was aware of McCammond’s anti-Asian tweets, was going to stand by its hiring of McCammond. In his email Thursday, Duncan wrote, “Given her previous acknowledgement of these posts and her sincere apologies, in addition to her remarkable work in journalism elevating the voices of marginalized communities, we were looking forward to welcoming her into our community.”

But the intense scrutiny over the past two weeks apparently grew to a point that Teen Vogue and McCammond saw no choice but to part ways. In her story for the Times, Robertson wrote, “Although the company was aware of the racist tweets, it did not know about the homophobic tweets or a photo, also from 2011, that was recently published by a right-wing website showing her in Native American costume at a Halloween party.” That was based on information Robertson received from a Condé Nast executive.

In addition, two major advertisers — Ulta Beauty and Burt’s Bees — suspended their campaigns with Teen Vogue. Robertson wrote that Anna Wintour, the chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue, tried to rally support for McCammond, but apparently the decision was made that the hiring was not going to work.

More on McCammond …

There has been some conversation in the past two weeks about McCammond’s tweeting history. Some asked if McCammond should be punished for something she tweeted a decade ago when she was a teenager. I personally believe 17 is old enough to know that the tweets she sent were not OK, but some have argued that if she has shown true remorse and has learned from her mistakes, the old tweets shouldn’t ruin the rest of her career.

But in this specific case, it’s hard to use the excuse that McCammond was “only” a teenager when her new job was to run a publication geared to teenagers. I’m not the first to make this point. In fact, it’s believed many Teen Vogue staffers said the same thing. Their point: an outlet would have a hard time saying it wants to treat teenagers as intelligent and mature and then turn around and excuse a teenager’s racist tweets because of their youth.

Meanwhile, all this comes just a month after McCammond’s boyfriend, T.J. Ducklo, was suspended and then resigned as the White House’s deputy press secretary. Ducklo reportedly threatened a Politico writer who was working on a story about Ducklo’s relationship with McCammond and how that could be seen as a conflict of interest. Ducklo reportedly told the Politico reporter that he would “destroy” her.

Ducklo tweeted an apology and resignation that said, “I used language that no woman should ever have to hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job. It was language that was abhorrent, disrespectful and unacceptable. I am devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed my White House colleagues and President Biden …”

The Washington Post moves closer to a newsroom leader

The Washington Post is as yet during the time spent finding a swap for Marty Aristocrat, who as of late resigned as chief editorial manager. In any case, an individual near the circumstance says the Post is drawing nearer and presented a few names of who could be in line for interviews. 

The names incorporate Rebecca Blumenstein, Carolyn Ryan and Marc Lacey — all high-positioning editors at The New York Times; Public Geographic editorial manager in-boss Susan Goldberg; Minneapolis Star Tribune senior overseeing proofreader Rene Sanchez; and inward competitors Cameron Barr and Steven Ginsberg. 

A name not on that rundown is Kevin Merida — the ESPN senior VP who runs The Undefeated. He was once viewed as a solid competitor, however it's accepted that, until further notice, he's waiting. 

Obviously, this is liable to change and different up-and-comers could in any case arise. 

In the mean time, the Los Angeles Times likewise proceeds with its quest for a leader editorial manager to supplant Norman Pearlstine, who ventured down in December. A portion of the names on the Post rundown likewise could wind up on the Occasions' rundown of expected up-and-comers. 

Alarming subtleties 

One more of the disturbing minutes in the repercussions of Tuesday's mass shootings in metro Atlanta were the remarks made by Capt. Jay Dough puncher, the representative for the Cherokee Area Sheriff's Office. While educating the media about the suspect in the shootings, Cook said, "He was practically tired and had been somewhat pushed beyond his limits. Yesterday was a truly downright awful for him, and this is the thing that he did." 

That one expression — "a truly downright terrible for him" — drew quick and legitimate shock. 

The Washington Post publication board stated, "Truly? Have we gotten so casual about firearm brutality that we pile up the homicide of eight individuals to somebody having a 'terrible day?' Similarly as the Covid addresses a general wellbeing crisis requiring logical arrangements and government activity, so weapon savagery is a general wellbeing emergency that requests consideration and activity to set up good judgment security laws." 

At that point additional upsetting subtleties arose. 

BuzzFeed News' Stephanie K. Baer covered how Pastry specialist, in a Facebook post from April 2020, shared a photograph of a Shirt that caricatured the Crown brew mark. It said, "Coronavirus IMPORTED Infection FROM CHY-NA." And Dough puncher stated, "Love my shirt. Get yours while they last." 

Vincent Skillet, co-chief overseer of Chinese for Governmental policy regarding minorities in society, disclosed to The Related Press' R.J. Rico, "To see this post is both upsetting and ridiculous. It addresses the underlying prejudice that we're all facing. Combined with the remarks emerging from the news gathering, it doesn't give local area individuals certainty that our encounters and the agony and the enduring that we're feeling are being treated appropriately, at any rate by this specific individual." 

Pastry specialist has not reacted openly about his Facebook post. 

To the extent Cook's remarks about the suspect having a "terrible day," Cherokee Area Sheriff Straightforward Reynolds said in an explanation that Dough puncher's remarks were "taken or interpreted as unfeeling or improper." Notwithstanding, Reynolds said, they "were not planned to slight any of the people in question, the gravity of this misfortune, or express compassion or compassion toward the suspect." 

Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson offered his musings with his segment: "Recollect these words at whatever point anybody advises you policing is visually challenged." 

Newsmax's obvious recruit

Newsmax — the pro-Trump, staunch-conservative TV network — announced a splashy hire on Thursday. And it’s not surprising. It announced that former Trump senior adviser Jason Miller will serve as a contributor. He will, according to Newsmax, “provide commentary on a wide variety of issues facing the nation, such as immigration and trade.”

Disgusting behavior

This is a disgusting story that, quite frankly, I almost didn’t include today because I didn’t want to amplify this inappropriate behavior. But, ultimately, I found it important to call out the despicable actions of OAN — the pro-Trump network that cares little for the truth or ethics.

So here’s what happened. A reporter for The New York Times sent emails and direct messages via social media to employees at OAN. This reporter is working on a potential story about OAN and wants to know what it’s like to work there, what the culture is like, how stories are assigned and so forth. The reporter left an email and cell phone number where they could be reached.

To be clear, there is nothing unethical about this. In fact, it’s pretty standard reporting.

However, OAN immediately made the leap that it was a “hit piece” and decided to air a story about the Times reporter reaching out. In doing so, they ran screengrabs of the reporter’s message, which included the reporter’s email address (which isn’t so bad) and cell phone number (which is awful).

At the very least, it was completely irresponsible and, at worst, it was a purposeful attempt to prompt viewers to reach out and harass the reporter. The latter seems more likely because the names of OAN employees in the screengrabs were blocked out.

There’s no other way to put this: OAN’s actions here are reprehensible. And, it should be noted, that if the Times truly wanted to, they could obtain the phone numbers of most OAN employees and publicize them. They don’t, of course, because that would be wrong. That’s the difference between the Times and OAN.

When asked for a comment, New York Times vice president for communications Danielle Rhoades Ha told me in an email, “Journalists should be allowed to do their jobs without harassment. Our reporter will not be intimidated and will continue to follow the facts where they lead.”

NFL TV rights

The NFL signed whopping new TV deals that will start with the 2023 season and continue through the 2033 season. The deals are with Amazon and current partners CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC.

Financial details were not released, but multiple reports say Amazon will pay about $1 billion per year, Disney (which owns ESPN/ABC) will pay about $2.7 billion per year, and the other networks will pay about $2 billion per year.

Here are some of the highlights of the deal:

The Super Bowls over that time will be divided among CBS (2023, 2027, 2031), Fox (2024, 2028, 2032) and NBC (2025, 2029, 2033). ABC will get two Super Bowls (2026, 2030). ABC hasn’t had a Super Bowl since 2006.

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” will continue to have the ability to flex some games into its time slot, but now ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” also will flex some games for the first time. This helps put more meaningful games in primetime.

And here’s a big deal: Amazon Prime Video will become the exclusive home to “Thursday Night Football.”

For more information, The Washington Post sports media writer Ben Strauss has “What the NFL’s new TV deal means for the league, fans and networks.”