Vice.com's "Flash" news from 10/19:
"The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin for masturbating on a Zoom video chat between members of the New Yorker and WNYC radio last week. Toobin says he did not realize his video was on….
"Two people who were on the call told VICE separately that the call was an election simulation featuring many of the New Yorker's biggest stars: Jane Mayer was playing establishment Republicans; Evan Osnos was Joe Biden, Jelani Cobb was establishment Democrats, Masha Gessen played Donald Trump, Andrew Marantz was the far right, Sue Halpern was left wing democrats, Dexter Filkins was the military, and Jeffrey Toobin [represented the parking-lot, open trench-coat voting bloc]."
My apology. I actually do feel sorry for the guy. Nature suddenly called? But still, what the fuck was he thinking? When was the last time you decided that a professional confab was an ideal opportunity for what they used to call "self-abuse"? I could understand if Jeff had been Zoom-interviewing Trump. I mean, after all, you'd need something on your mind as he prattled away.
It gets better.
"New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote in an email to all New Yorker staffers: 'Dear All' — Oh My Gad, not again! — 'as you may have read [as you may have read] in various news reports today, one of our writers … was suspended after an incident [an incident] on a Zoom call last week. Please be assured that we take such matters seriously [in hand] and that we are looking into it [because we all want to see how it 'came' out].'”
Has the United States not become a Monty Python skit, or what?