The New Yorker announced it had suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin after he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” he said in an interview with Vice. “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.”
The incident happened while Toobin was on a call with colleagues from the New Yorker in an election night simulation. Those with firsthand knowledge of the incident, who spoke to Vice on the condition of anonymity, said at one point in the call Toobin lowered his camera where he could be seen touching himself.
“Dear All, As you may have read in various news reports today, one of our writers, Jeff Toobin, was suspended after an incident on a Zoom call last week. Please be assured that we take such matters seriously and that we are looking into it,” wrote New Yorker editor David Remnick in a staff-wide email.
There’s no word on when people can expect Toobin to return to work.
