UK Edition
Gay Times editor sacked after anti-Semitic and sexist tweets discovered
The editor of the Gay Times has been fired just weeks after taking up the role after anti-Semitic and misogynistic tweets were uncovered.
Josh Rivers sent a series of tweets between 2010 and 2015 which made offensive comments about women, Jewish people, Chinese people, lesbians, transgender people, and people he thought were overweight or ugly.
The magazine said that all of his articles have now been removed from the website and he has been dismissed from his post.
Among the offensive messages was one which said an actor cast as a Jewish person had a "f------- ridiculously larger honker of a nose" and another which tweeted approvingly a quote from US animation Family Guy: “Jews are gross. It’s the only religion with ‘ew’ in it."
Another said: "I’ve just seen a girl in the tightest white tank & lord help me if she’s not pregnant, she should be killed. #gross”
Another message read: "I hope that piece of machinery that asshole lesbian next door has been using since 8am cuts off her goddamn hand.”
Yet another message read: "“I’m thankful for TFL [Transport for London] & rising bus fares. Let’s keep homeless people on the streets & off our buses! #TT”"
Mr Rivers was appointed editor of the magazine last month, and would have been the UK's first non-white editor of a gay men's magazine.
Announcing his appointment at the end of last month the magazine said choosing Mr Rivers, a former marketing manager, was a “strategic move to best serve the magazine’s diverse and culturally inquisitive audience”.
The tweets were discovered by Buzzfeed News, which put them to Mr Rivers in an interview to mark his appointment.
In response he apologised and said they showed "self-loathing, a complete unawareness of the world around me and a disregard for others that I find deeply upsetting".
Mr Rivers later posted a statement on the social network calling the tweets "abhorrent", "ugly" and "hateful".
"I hope we can use this as an opportunity for growth, for healing, for moving forward," he added.
Gay Times announced on Wednesday that he had been suspended. In a statement it said: "Josh Rivers' past tweets do not align with the values of Gay Times, or any of our employees, in any capacity.
"Josh has been suspended with immediate effect while we investigate the facts. Appropriate action will be taken in due course."
On Thursday morning it said that "his employment has been suspended 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," a spokesman said.