Gay Times fires editor over anti-Semitic, racist tweets

by Sydney Smith November 16, 2017 02:35 PM EST

Tags: Apologies & Retractions, Bad Taste, England, Gay Times, Josh Rivers, Social Media & Online Commenting, Standards, Twitter

Submit a tip

A Gay Times cover. (Credit: Facebook)

Gay Times magazine fired its new editor Josh Rivers because of his offensive, anti-Semitic tweets from years earlier. The UK magazine, which boasts 3 million monthly online hits and the largest social media reach for a LGBT brand, also removed all of his articles from its website. His problematic tweets were made between 2010 and 2015, according to BuzzFeed UK, which found “several dozen tweets” that criticized Asians, Africans, overweight people, and lesbians.

Tweets included:

“I wonder if they cast that guy as ‘The Jew’ because of that fucking ridiculously large honker of a nose. It must be prosthetic. Must be.”
“The creepiest gay men are short, old asian men with long nails. Fact.”
“Waitress from next door just got back from Africa & told me I should go soon. Do I look like I’m trying to get killed? Jog on, honey.”
“So the Egyptian men celebrate by raping women? Cool. Freedom rings for fat, smelly, hairy, cunt-face, backwards rapists. YAY!”
“I’ve just seen a girl in the tightest white tank & lord help me if she’s not pregnant, she should be killed. #gross”
“So was getting geared up to watch Lip Service. Turns out it’s about lesbian dramas. DELETE.”
“I hope that piece of machinery that asshole lesbian next door has been using since 8am cuts off her goddamn hand.”

At first, Gay Times suspended Rivers, but then it decided to fire him. “After an investigation of the facts surrounding historical tweets by Josh Rivers, the newly appointed Editor of Gay Times magazine; we announce that his employment has been terminated with immediate effect,” the magazine said in a tweeted statement. iMediaEthics contacted the Gay Times to ask how many articles were removed; the magazine pointed to its statement posted on Twitter and its website announcing the firing.

Rivers, 31, said in an interview with the BBC that he was “appalled” by his former tweets. “I was stunned, I was confused. I spent most of my 20s in a daze, in a blur. I was not sober as much as I probably could have been,” he told the BBC. Rivers posted an apology statement on Twitter calling his tweets “horrible,” “abhorrent,” “ugly” and “so hateful.” iMediaEthics has messaged Rivers.