New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin for exposing himself on work Zoom call

Less than a month after he was seen touching himself on a Zoom call with colleagues, the New Yorker magazine’s star writer got the sack.

New Yorker star writer Jeffrey Toobin exposed himself while on a staff Zoom call, and later said he believed he was off-camera. Picture: Olivier Douliery/AFP

New Yorker magazine star writer Jeffrey Toobin has been fired after he exposed himself on a staff Zoom call.

In a staff note seen by The New York Times, chief people officer Stan Duncan from the magazine’s parent company Conde Nast said Mr Toobin “is no longer affiliated with our company”.

“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,” Mr Duncan said.

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Jeffrey Toobin was suspended during the investigation but has been fired. Picture: Manny Carabel/WireImage

The decision followed an internal investigation into the incident which occurred during a video chat between members of the New Yorker and WNYC radio in mid October.

Two people on the call told Vice they had seen Toobin masturbating during a “break” in their call, on what appeared to be a “second video call”, and he was touching his penis on camera.

The staff meeting had been to prepare for upcoming presidential election coverage.

“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off camera,” Toobin told Vice in a statement.

“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.

“I apologise to my wife, family, friends and co-workers.”

Toobin, who was suspended during the inquiry, announced he had been fired on Twitter.

I was fired today by @NewYorker after 27 years as a Staff Writer. I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work.

— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) November 11, 2020

The 60-year-old spent 27 years at the New Yorker as a staff writer and has covered the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump.

He famously filed on the O.J. Simpson trial for the magazine in the 1990s, penning a book which fuelled FX’s The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016.

Toobin – a former associate counsel in the Department of Justice – is also on leave from CNN, where he has been since 2002 and is the chief legal analyst.

Jeffrey Toobin is the chief legal analyst for CNN. Picture: Paul Marotta/Getty Images

In response to those defending him in the days after the incident, actor and #MeToo activist Rose McGowan said if a woman was caught masturbating on a Zoom meeting “like #MeToobin”, “she’d be burned at the stake”.

She retweeted US lawyer and TV host Adrienne Lawrence, who said: “Masturbating at work is neither normal nor acceptable - it’s sexual harrassment”.

After news of Toobin’s firing broke, Ms Lawrence said the New Yorker “did the right thing”.

Originally published as New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin for exposing himself on work Zoom call