Gawker has been widely criticized by journalists and readers online for publishing a story last night that may have revealed that Conde Nast chief financial officer David Geithner is gay. A male escort claimed to the site that the married father of three tried to set up a meeting with him in Chicago for $2,500 but then backed out of the deal.
Gawker writer Jordan Sergent included alleged text messages between Geithner and the escort, who did not reveal his name. The escort claimed that they began texting each other on July 4 and that Geithner wanted to meet him a week later at a hotel, offering to pay $2,500, airfare and hotel. Geithner then sent the escort half that price via FedEx.
Moments after the story went live, readers on the site were stunned by it, considering that Geithner is not a public figure, although his brother is former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. However, Geithner himself is not a politician or an activist. Therefore, many wondered what the point of possibly outing him was.
“This story is not in the public interest, you just humiliated a man and his family to get clicks. You should be ashamed of yourself Jordan,” one person wrote in the story’s comments section.
Even journalists online were stunned, notes USA Today. “An appalling act of gay shaming disguised as a story -- thought we were way past this crap,” Re/Code co-executive editor Kara Swisher tweeted. Adam Weinstein, a senior writer at Gawker, told his followers, “I had no part in this. I would not have chosen to run it as is.”
However, Gawker’s editor-in-chief defended the story. “Given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies f**king around on their wives,” he tweeted.
Geithner later sent a statement to Gawker, which reads, “I don’t know who this individual is. This is a shakedown. I have never had a text exchange with this individual. He clearly has an ulterior motive that has nothing to do with me.”
screenshot of Gawker.com