Gawker slammed for apparently attempting to ‘out’ Condé Nast CFO
A Gawker article which alleged that the CFO of Condé Nast had attempted to pay for sex with a gay porn actor has drawn heavy criticism online.
The CFO, David Geithner, who is married to a woman and a father of three, denied the allegations.
The article by Gawker had alleged that Geithner attempted to set up the encounter with the anonymous gay porn actor in Chicago.
It claimed that he had offered to pay $2,500 for the meeting, and that the trip was cancelled when the porn actor attempted to get Geithner to help him out with a housing dispute.
Going on, the article claimed that the escort had attempted to get help from Senator Ted Cruz with the dispute.
Geithner strongly denies the claims, and accused the site of publishing a “shakedown”.
Many took to social media to criticise the article including journalist Glenn Greenwald, who posted on Twitter: “I’m a fan of Gawker & several of its journalists, but that article is reprehensible beyond belief: it’s deranged to publish that.”
Re/Code co-executive editor Kara Swisher also commented, tweeting: “An appalling act of gay shaming disguised as a story — thought we were way past this crap.”
The article was also criticised by the Gawker team, with senior writer Adam Weinstein tweeting: “I had no part in this. I would not have chosen to run it as is.”
Many pointed out that the sexual orientation of Geithner is not in the public interest.
Gawker Editor-in-Chief Max Read responded to defend the article, saying: “Given the chance Gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies f****** around on their wives.”
Some readers said advertisers on Gawker should be targeted in an attempt to encourage them to boycott.
