Gay Times does not tolerate such views and will continue to strive to honour and promote inclusivity”
Gay Times has fired its newly appointed editor, Josh Rivers, following a Buzzfeed article published yesterday revealing offensive tweets he posted between 2010 and 2015.
The tweets targeted many different groups of people and include racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, transphobic, lesbophobic, sizeist, ableist, classist and ageist remarks. He also made derogatory comments about the homeless and “ugly” people.
The magazine for gay and bisexual men confirmed their decision to terminate his employment immediately via their social media, stating:
“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.
“We sincerely apologise for the offence that has been caused, particularly to those members of our wider community to whom such inappropriate and unacceptable commentary was the focus.
“Gay Times does not tolerate such views and will continue to strive to honour and promote inclusivity.”
Gay Times then announced that their relaunch will go ahead on 30 November, describing it as “quite possibly the most significant overhaul in its 33-year history”. They also confirmed that all previous articles written by Rivers had been removed.
Rivers posted the following apology on his personal Twitter.
To every single person who is hurt, offended and disappointed: I’m sorry. pic.twitter.com/XAwz7llKxc
— Josh Rivers (@_joshrivers) November 15, 2017
Only reading DIVA online? You're missing out. For more news, reviews and commentary, check out the latest issue. It's pretty badass, if we do say so ourselves.
divadigital.co.uk // divadirect.co.uk