Watch: Animation company mocks Gawker over ‘outing’ feud
A Taiwanese animation company has brought to life the row at online news site Gawker – after an article ‘outing’ a businessman was pulled down.
The article posted by Gawker earlier this month alleged that Conde Nast’s CFO David Geithner – who is a married father of three – attempted to set up the encounter with an 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.
However, the post caused widespread outrage online – and Geithner denied all the allegations.
After Gawker’s managing partnership intervened to pull down the post, the site’s executive editor Tommy Craggs and editor-in-chief Max Read resigned in protest.
Taiwanese Animators have brought the story to life in a quirky animation – with Craggs and Read portrayed as babies with assault rifles.
Geithner is shown being ‘forced’ out of the closet – while Gawker founder Nick Denton is also savaged for his role.
Mr Denton has defended the decision to remove the article, claiming claiming the article was invasive and not of the site’s standards.
He wrote: “Let me be clear. This was a decision I made as Founder and Publisher — and guardian of the company mission — and the majority supported me in that decision.
“This is the company I built. I was ashamed to have my name and Gawker’s associated with a story on the private life of a closeted gay man who some felt had done nothing to warrant the attention.
“We believe we were within our legal right to publish, but it defied the 2015 editorial mandate to do stories that inspire pride, and made impossible the jobs of those most committed to defending such journalism.”
