Jeffrey Toobin has been fired from the New Yorker magazine after nearly three decades following a weeks-long investigation into an incident last month in which he exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues.
The 60-year-old writer tweeted the news of his sacking on Wednesday evening, saying he "was fired" from the magazine, where he was employed as a staff writer for 27 years. "I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work," Toobin said in a tweet.
'We Take Workplace Matters Seriously'
"I am writing to share with you that our investigation regarding Jeffrey Toobin is complete, and as a result, he is no longer affiliated with our company," the New Yorker's parent company Conde Nast wrote in an email to staff.
"I want to assure everyone that we take workplace matters seriously. We are committed to fostering an environment where everyone feels respected and upholds our standards of conduct," the memo noted.
Zoom Masturbation Incident
Toobin was placed under investigation and suspended last month after he exposed himself and started masturbating during an election simulation meeting with magazine and WNYC radio staffers on Zoom in the run-up to the presidential election, as previously reported.
The election simulation involved prominent New Yorker figures playing politicians, such as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Toobin was playing the role of the courts.
Participants on the call told Vice Media, who first reported the suspension, that during a break in the virtual meeting, Toobin switched to a second call that was the video-call equivalent of phone sex, lowered the camera, and started inappropriately touching himself on camera in full view of the call's participants.
Toobin later addressed the incident as an "embarrassingly stupid mistake" in a statement. "I believed I was not visible on Zoom," Toobin said at the time. "I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video."
Toobin also worked as a legal analyst for CNN since 2002. Last month, a CNN spokesperson said that following the Zoom incident, Toobin had "asked for some time off" and that the network had granted it.
