Backlash Over Gawker And Porn Model Brodie Sinclair Outing A High Profile John
A few days ago, gay site, Gawker in league with porn model Brodie Sinclair (pictured above right) posted a long and sordid tale about the CFO of a major mass media company, an emotionally troubled porn star/hustler, and an attempted hookup gone horribly awry. This john was neither a two-faced homophobe, nor a hate-spouting preacher on Grindr. But that didn’t stop Gawker.
The escort, Brodie, figured out the john was David Geithner (pictured above left), the married (with kids) CFO of Condé Nast and brother of ex-Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He went to Gawker all because Geithner didn’t respond adequately to his request.
No stranger to controversy — Gawker is known for courting notoriety with the same vengeance it pursues clicks — the company instantly suffered a backlash from the Internet crying foul. Minutes after the piece was posted, the criticisms started to fly, accusing the gossip site’s publisher Nick Denton and the story’s author Jordan Sargent of blackmail, gay-shaming and gleefully outing a married man with three kids — a professional who isn’t exactly a public figure.
Honestly, it’s difficult to find someone who isn’t weighing in on the scandal on Twitter, and voices coming out in defense of the article are few and far between (and are mostly Gawker’s staffers.) Gawker Editor-in-Chief Max Read:
Gawker “journalist” Natasha Vargas-Cooper made also makes the publication’s stance on such things crystal clear.
Although even some Gawker’s writers seem to be similarly appalled by the story, such as senior writer Adam Weinstein:
As the NYTimes points out, Gawker, run by out gay man Nick Denton, has a penchant for outing people. Their pursuit of the sexuality of Fox News’ anchor Shepard Smith was to “derive from the contextual equation — Fox News + gay = hypocrisy.”
Gawker also went on a virtual crusade to force CNN’s Anderson Cooper to declare his sexuality – until he scooped them by coming out in his email to Andrew Sullivan.
This wasn’t some puff piece about a ‘Hooker with a heart of gold,’ this ruined the life of someone who was the brother of someone formerly associated with the Obama administration – none of which were our enemies – for the hits and clicks such lurid stories garner.
This is about a hooker who decided getting 1000′s of dollars for services wasn’t enough and decided to shakedown their john for more.
Where have we heard this before? Ahem, Jarec Wentworth. But at least Jarec was indeed a bonafide porn star. Brodie is reportedly a retired B-lister still turning tricks. But like Jarec, in the end, he did not get what he was after. We know Gawker wanted hits to their site – but what about Brodie?
Brodie may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was able to figure out Geithner’s identity after Geithner stupidly sent Brodie his “deposit” with his family address as the smoking gun in addition to dropping a few tidbits about being a CFO and some phone number tracing. That’s when Brodie upped the stakes: He wanted Geithner to use his connections to help him with a closed housing dispute case. Brodie claimed he was being discriminated against because of his sexuality and for being a gay porn star; whereas the alleged truth was that he was expelled from the building for violating their pet policy.
Geithner must not have been able to meet his demands, hence Brodie going to Gawker with his story. And after 24 hours after posting the story with the damage already done (and with Geithner, naturally, denying it all), the publisher Denton made the decision to remove the post from Gawker.
He writes:
‘Yesterday evening, Gawker.com published a story about the CFO of Conde Nast texting an escort. It was an editorial call, a close call around which there were more internal disagreements than usual. And it is a decision I regret.
‘The story involves extortion, illegality and reckless behavior, sufficient justification at least in tabloid news terms. The account was true and well-reported. It concerns a senior business executive at one of the most powerful media companies on the planet.
‘In the early days of the internet, that would have been enough. “We put truths on the internet.” That has been the longstanding position of Gawker journalists, some of the most uncompromising and uncompromised on the internet. I cannot blame our editors and writers for pursuing that original mission.
‘But the media environment has changed, our readers have changed, and I have changed. Not only is criticism of yesterday’s piece from readers intense, but much of what they’ve said has resonated. Some of our own writers, proud to work at one of the only independent media companies, are equally appalled.
‘I believe this public mood reflects a growing recognition that we all have secrets, and they are not all equally worthy of exposure. I can’t defend yesterday’s story as I can our coverage of Bill O’Reilly, Hillary Clinton or Hulk Hogan.’
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29 Comments
Francis
July 20, 06:13MGMs over to una. Lol.
So Nigerian bloggers aren’t the only ones chasing clicks at the detriment of others. *sighs*
Max
July 20, 06:35When you’re gay and married to a woman/fucking a side dude, its wrong. So if someone decides to out you, it’s morally justifiable. Especially if you live in a country where being gay isn’t considered wrong.
You should’ve thought about the risks of marrying a woman before doing it in the first place. Mtchew
Francis
July 20, 06:48Max, weeks back I had a reflection on this whole cheating on your partner with the same sex thing and it just came off as homophobia to me. When you really analyze it, it’s still cheating and whether we like it or not most people just can’t help themselves. (I’m not making a case of hardcore unrepentant cheaters that don’t want to make up their minds and let monogamous folks be)
Personally I don’t fancy outing closeted peeps married or not unless they are A grade homophobic douche bags.
Pink Panther
July 20, 06:49LOL! I just knew Max won’t have any empathy for the outed dude.
Max
July 20, 07:24Lol..
Dimkpa
July 20, 09:14Ah morals…
Your morals are not universal and a person’s morals should be theirs alone. When you start judging someone based on your morals then don’t cry foul when others judge you based on theirs and let’s say… prescribe a 14 year jail term for you based on their morals.
We rail at religion yet are prescribing morals of our own which are no different from what the religions we ridicule do.
Everyone’s different, each man has his story and it would make sense to find out what it is before passing judgement. Yes he lives in a free country but what of his family? Maybe he wasn’t strong enough or had too much to lose.
By these morals the virtue of a porn star who extorts, blackmailed and outed another man is being extolled.
Outing another gayman is reprehensible married or not and should not be condoned except of course said gay man is publicly anti-gay. I like to think that keeping each others secrets is one of the codes we live by. Break that and we all may have to form closer partnerships with our left hands.
Eros
July 20, 10:51Dear Max,
Please bear with us, we weak, lily-livered, yellow bellied, internal homophobia suffering gay men/MGM. You know how the economy is, it is not easy being a fabulous gay champion such as your mighty self in this present clime. We are but poor neanderthal homosexual individual who cannot stay single but need female companionship and lots of kids to keep keep the facade of being “socially accepted” We still aspire to reach your level of awesomeness and hope that you tender your judgements with mercy because your opinion matters a lot in our everyday lives.
Yours truly,
Bomboy Eros
General Secretary of Weak Gay Men and MGM Anonymous (WGMMGMA)
Sinnex
July 20, 11:16Gbam!
Pink Panther
July 20, 11:20Hahahahahahahahaa!!! Eros o. iDied!
Max
July 20, 19:17Hahahahahahaha
pete
July 20, 07:20what the site did is wrong & should be condemned. making it an MGM versus single gays also shows you have a chip you’re carrying.
Oluwadamilare Okoro
July 20, 07:34Wow. I guess all these came to internet because scandal is on break and Olivia pope is on vacation.
On a more serious note, going by the story I think this was a blackmail attempt by the pornstar gone wrong … Which i will not support. MGM or not.
obatala
July 20, 07:40just testing my moniker to see if it works on the new site. yay it works
Masked Man
July 20, 07:43I shudder when I think of things that would happen, if any of my accounts is ever hacked.
Blawd of Jisos!!!
obatala
July 20, 07:43wait, where is my gravatar??? PINKY!!!!!!!!!!!
Masked Man
July 20, 07:46In the trashcan.
Absalom
July 20, 07:48What Gawker did is unethical and irresponsible journalism . It is not the job of the media to out people when there is no public interest in running the story.
Geithner is a top exec in a company.
He is not an elected public official – hence his marital affairs are private.
He is not a right-wing anti-gay bigot who happens to be on Grindr – hence hypocrisy cannot be a motive here.
He did not commit a crime – for example, intentionally infect people with HIV…so he is not a public health problem.
His marital infidelity and possible homosexuality are his and his family’s business to handle at the appointed time.
Gawker should be sued. And that blackmailing idiot should be locked up forever.
Pink Panther
July 20, 07:57Gbam! @Absalom.
Oluwadamilare Okoro
July 20, 10:11Osheyyyyyy
techie
July 20, 07:49for me, this isn’t about gender or sexuality. adultery is adultery and it’s pretty hard to sympathize with any other parties here… except maybe the man’s family
Rev; Hot
July 20, 09:01I agree with max and techie
Khaleesi
July 20, 09:07***runs hands through long silky hair, lets out a big yawn and kicks off dainty ferragamo slippers***
Posh6666
July 20, 10:38Lmaoooo miss drama queen
Chuck
July 20, 13:16This is not about morality. This is about the truth. If this really happened then it’s publishable. Who decides what’s relevant? No one. I don’t see y’all asking celebs who post pics of their new cars to take them down, or asking Pinky to stop including stories about Mr. Ideal Nigeria or whoever the new gay prostitute is.
It’s relevant for gay people to know top execs are gay, and successful gay men are played for money too – in fact this could be the beginning of attention to gay prostitution.
ronniephoenix
July 20, 17:08Whatever.
ambivalentone
July 20, 17:31While I cannot imagine why anyone would wanna extort mutually beneficial good times, If you don’t appreciate the drama on ‘Cheaters’, u can’t like this piece. The poor wife will be thinking she married ‘person’
Pink Panther
July 20, 18:25That’s a bit too caustic, Trys. Don’t you think?
Max
July 20, 19:19No
ambivalentone
July 20, 19:41@Max loooool. Quite sharp
Pinky, when u watch the play of emotions that flicker in the faces of the ‘victims’ as they watch the evidences of their spouses infidelity, u tend to stop pitying them. Shock, pain of betrayal, anger, resolve…and den comes the messy fights, which I actually hate. Nope, I don’t think it was caustic.