CNN’s chief legal analyst and reporter for the New Yorker was just suspended by the New Yorker for allegations that he exposed himself during a Zoom call:
VICE – The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin. Sources tell VICE it’s because he exposed himself during a Zoom call last week between members of the New Yorker and WNYC radio.
Toobin said in a statement to Motherboard: “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers.”
“I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video,” he added.
New Yorker spokesperson Natalie Raabe said: “Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter.”
Toobin’s Conde Nast email has been disabled and he has not tweeted since October 13. He did, however, appear on CNN, where he is the network’s chief legal analyst, on Saturday. “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” CNN said in a statement.
Doubleday, an imprint of Random House, which published Toobin’s latest book did not respond to emails. Neither did Toobin’s literary agent Kristine Dahl nor Greater Talent Network, which represents Toobin. WNYC did not respond to a request for comment.
Wow. Toobin claims this is a mistake and so far I haven’t found any insider information to contradict it yet. Let’s hope that was the case, but even so, what the heck dude. If you’re on a live zoom call you never undress. And if you must do it, leave the room OR put a piece of cardboard over the video camera. Not that hard.
I’m holding out though before I just believe it was a ‘mistake’. I want to say that maybe they wouldn’t have suspended him if it were just a mistake, but showing your genitals on a live stream, regardless of intent, is still pretty bad.
But it if was indeed intentional, CNN will be the next to dump Toobin.
UPDATE: Vice updated their story to note that Toobin was caught masturbating on the Zoom call:
Two people who were on the call told Motherboard 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 playing the courts. There were also a handful of other producers on the call from the New Yorker and WNYC.
Both people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, noted that it was unclear how much each individual person on the call saw, but both of the people we spoke to said that they saw Toobin jerking off. The two sources described a juncture in the election simulation when there was a strategy session, and the Democrats and Republicans went into their respective break out rooms for about 10 minutes. At this point, they said, it seemed like Toobin was on a second video call. The sources said that when the groups returned from their break out rooms, Toobin lowered the camera. The people on the call said they could see Toobin touching his penis. Toobin then left the call. Moments later, he called back in, seemingly unaware of what his colleagues had been able to see, and the simulation continued.
What is it about these Zoom calls that make people go nuts? In Brazil a couple months ago a politician pulled a woman’s nipple out on camera and…well I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. This is just as bad if not worse.
But now we know why he got suspended. You’re turn CNN.