The New Yorker writer and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin is suspended. But don't feel sorry for him just yet.
Toobin is the talk of the town for not just showing his penis at the Zoom meeting. He was masturbating on a Zoom video chat between the New Yorker and WNYC radio members last week.
Toobin says he did not realize that he was visible on the call.
Toobin's defense
Toobin stated:
I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera.
I believed I was not visible on Zoom, and I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me and thought I had muted the Zoom video.
The 60-year-old married Harvard Law School grad apologized to his wife, family, friends, and coworkers.
Apologizing is fine, but why? And in his 60s? Now, what would he say if anyone else on the planet did this?
The other side of the Zoom call
On the video call, two people said to Vice that the virtual gathering was part of an election simulation last week. It involved New Yorker stars: Jane Mayer, Evan Osnos, Masha Gessen, Jelani Cobb, and producers from Vice and WNYC public radio.
The two sources said that at one point, they all thought Toobin was taking another call, so he lowered his camera. But, sadly, it was not the case. It was then when they saw him abusing himself, sort of speak.
During the simulation, Osnos played the role of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Gessen was in President Trump's chair. Mayer represented establishment Republicans. Cobb stood in for the Democrats, the same sources added.
Toobin was supposed to be playing the part of the courts, while Andrew Marantz represented the far-right. Sue Halpern was the left, and Dexter Filkins was representing the military.
At one point, there was a break for those playing Democrats and Republicans to strategize together. That's when sources say they saw Toobin pleasuring himself.
PR nightmare
New Yorker spokesperson Natalie Raabe said: "Jeffrey Toobin is suspended while we're investigating the matter."
The New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote an email to all New Yorker staffers:
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. Please be assured that we take such matters seriously and that we are looking into it.
Best, David.
CNN's brief statement says:
Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.
Toobin's literary agent Kristine Dahl and Greater Talent Network, which represents Toobin, are staying mute for the time being.
Was it worth it?
Toobin is a staff writer at The New Yorker and famously covered the OJ Simpson trial for the magazine in the 1990s.
He turned his Simpson coverage into a book, which inspired FX's awarded mini-series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016.
He is a high-profile author who has written about everything from the US Supreme Court, US presidents and world leaders to one-time kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst.
If some young bloggers did the same, people would not be as harsh. But Toobin is a ruthless professional, a superstar in his field.
You don't have to be a genius not to masturbate during working hours. Lockdown or working from home is no excuse.
