Longstanding media critic Howard Kurtz has resigned from two publications Thursday in the wake of his misinformed article surrounding recently out pro-athlete Jason Collins.
New York Times reports that Kurtz has resigned from his positions at The Daily Beat and Newsweek as announced by Tina Brown, the editor in chief of the publication.
“@thedailybeast & @HowardKurtz have parted company...we wish him well,” Brown tweeted simply Thursday. Brown did not offer an explanation following his departure.
However, all signs thus far are pointing to a blog post he wrote where he slammed Collins for his recently published Sports Illustrated op-ed where he revealed his sexuality. Kurtz bashed Collins, saying he was not honest about previously being engaged to a woman in his article. Collins actually discussed the engagement in length in the article causing many to question whether or not Kurtz actually read the article at all.
The blog post was retracted shortly after the backlash ensued.
An anonymous staff member has come forward to claim that Kurtz’s departure is not due to the backlash from the article but instead the staff member notes, “It’s been apparent for some time that Howie has a lot of other irons in the fire.”
Kurtz has not released a statement regarding the situation.