The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin and launched an investigation after he allegedly exposed himself during a Zoom call, according to Vice’s tech news website, Motherboard.
“Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter,” a New Yorker spokesperson said in a statement to VarietyAccording to Motherboard, Toobin exposed himself during a Zoom call last week with The New Yorker staffers and the radio station WNYC. Motherboard called the meeting a “d– incident.”
“Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement to Variety.
In a statement to Motherboard, Toobin said, “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.”
Motherboard reported that Toobin’s Conde Nast email has been disabled, and he has not tweeted from his Twitter account since Tuesday.
Toobin wrote a novel about the O.J. Simpson trial in 1997, titled “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” FX adapted the book into the hit true-crime anthology series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” The series won nine Emmy awards out of 22 nominations. Actor Chris Conner portrayed Toobin.
Jeffrey Toobin has been sidelined at a pivotal moment in the run-up to the presidential election. The reason: He exposed himself during a Zoom call with New Yorker colleagues in what he says was an accident. Here's our full story https://t.co/pHHNURlxnR
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 20, 2020
Damn @JeffreyToobin pic.twitter.com/ZkS1gFsyyi
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) October 20, 2020