CNN analyst and The New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin was allegedly caught masturbating during a Zoom call with some of the biggest names in business and has now been let go from his job.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera:’’ the married man told 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.’’
“I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,’’ he added.
Those involved in the Zoom call told the publication the video meeting was part of an election simulation last week that featured New Yorker high-rankers such as Masha Gessen, Jane, Mayer, Evan Osnos, and Jelani Cobb. WNYC producers from the magazine were also present.
This is not the kind of editor's note you want to see in a story about yourself: "This piece has been updated with more detail about the call and the headline has been updated to reflect that Toobin was masturbating." https://t.co/iWJ6Llzb6a
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) October 19, 2020
The two people who witnessed the act said that at one point, it looked as if the 60-year-old was taking another call and lowered his webcam, and that is when he started masturbating.
It isn’t clear what exactly they saw.
During the pretend call, Osnos had been playing Joe Biden, Gessen was playing President Trump, and Mayer played the role of establishment Republicans, while Cobb represented the Democrats, the sources told Vice.
Toobin was set to play the part of the courts, Andrew Marantz stood in for the far-right, Sue Halpern played the left and Dexter Filkins played the part of the military.
Eventually, the Republican and Democrat actors took a break in order to work on their strategy, and that is when they saw Toobin working on himself…
Afterward, he left the chat for a while and called them back – unbeknownst that his camera was recording his masturbating session.
A New Yorker spokesperson said:
“Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter.”
David Remnick, the publication’s editor, said in an e-mail to employees:
“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,’’ Vice reported.
“Please be assured that we take such matters seriously and that we are looking into it. Best, David,’’ Remnick said.
CNN is also removing wack job (no pun intended) Jeffrey Toobin.
“Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted"
Masturbating during business meetings is a personal issue?#JeffToobin #JeffreyToobinsDick #FakeNews— MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) October 20, 2020
According to CNN Toobin would be taking a break from the network where he works as a senior legal analyst.
“Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” a CNN representative said.
Toobin gained fame for covering the OJ Simpson trial for the New Yorker back in the 90s. He later wrote a book, which inspired FX’s 2016 “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’’.
But this fresh scandal was not the first time he got in trouble.
In 2008, a story broke saying he was the father of a love child with attorney Casey Greenfield, the daughter of journalist Jeff Greenfield – who was employed by CNN back then.
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