Jeffrey Toobin has been sacked by New Yorker magazine after he masturbated on a staff Zoom call.
The 60-year-old who is also senior legal analyst for CNN, confirmed in a tweet that he had been sacked. He wrote on Twitter;
“I was fired today by @NewYorker after 27 years as a Staff Writer. I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work.”
I was fired today by @NewYorker after 27 years as a Staff Writer. I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work.
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) November 11, 2020
The New Yorker’s parent company Conde Nast wrote in an email to staff: “I want to assure everyone that we take workplace matters seriously.”
After he was suspended last month Mr Toobin said he had believed himself to be off-camera during the incident.
Vice News, which broke the initial story, reported that senior colleagues had seen Mr Toobin masturbating while apparently on a separate video call.
The incident happened on 15 October during an election simulation involving the New Yorker and WNYC radio. Mr Toobin was immediately suspended.
In a statement to Vice last month, he said: “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera.”
He apologised to his family, friends and colleagues.
“I believed I was not visible on Zoom,” he told Vice. “I thought no-one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video.”
