Deadspin is facing inner turmoil as a senior editor claimed the sports site fired him for not “sticking to sports.”
On Monday, a memo written by parent company G/O Media editorial director Paul Maidment was leaked, reportedly directing Deadspin employees that its site will have a “100 percent focus” on sports.
“To create as much great sports journalism as we can requires a 100 percent focus of our resources on sports. And it will be the sole focus,” Maidment said according to The Daily Beast. “Deadspin will write only about sports and that which is relevant to sports in some way.”
Maidment later explained G/O Media had “plenty of other sites that write about politics, pop culture, the arts, and the rest, and they’re the appropriate place for such work.”
On Tuesday, Deadspin’s deputy editor Barry Petchesky announced that he had been fired by what was previously known to be a left-leaning site.
“Hi! I’ve just been fired from Deadspin for not sticking to sports,” Petchesky tweeted.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Maidment confirmed the content of the memo and, in reference to the firing, said, “We are sorry that some on the Deadspin staff don’t agree with that editorial direction, and refuse to work within that incredibly broad mandate.”
In what appears to have been retaliation by its staff, Deadspin had articles unrelated to sports flooding its homepage. (Warning: image in link contains profanity)
The outrage among Petchesky’s former colleagues was considerably vocal, including Deadspin media reporter Laura Wagner, who blasted G/O CEO Jim Spanfeller and retweeted a suggestion by a Mother Jones editor to “wrap your eulogy” for Petchesky “around a brick and throw it through Jim Spanfeller’s window.”
“Jim Spanfeller is a real piece of s—,” Wagner openly said.
G/O Media did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
David Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, snarkily offered to buy the rival site for “$1.”
“Hey @JimSpanfeller, I reached out when you bought deadspin. I told you what would happen,” Portnoy tweeted. “I will take it off your hands for 1 dollar. You can still have equity. I will clean house and fix this for you. Let me know when you want to meet. This is my world. Let the king save you.”
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Portnoy also offered Petchesky a $100,000 yearly salary with benefits to be his “butler.”
“It’s not even hard. You just have to call my Amex black card guy and book my private planes and s—. Very easy,” Portnoy added.
