Why Did Everyone Just Quit Deadspin?

by Stephanie Maida · October 31, 2019

In media's current, volatile climate, it has become all too common to see swarms of staffers announcing their layoffs from publications whose voices, and followings, they helped build. Earlier this year, we saw it on a massive scale when titles including BuzzFeed, VICE, and HuffPost let go of more than 2,000 people in a two-week span.

This week, Twitter has once again been alight with editorial staffers declaring their departure from yet another popular website. But they weren't laid off. They quit.

In a show of remarkable solidarity, several employees of Deadspin, the sports commentary site with the biting spirit of its OG parent website, Gawker, have rallied behind fired interim editor-in-chief, Barry Petchesky, who was reportedly punished for "not sticking to sports." The command, which GMG Union, which represents the Deadspin staff, called "a thinly veiled euphemism for ‘don’t speak truth to power,’" had come from G/O Media's newly-seated CEO Jim Spanfeller, who took over the former Gizmodo Media Group back in April.

In August, Deadspin's Laura Wagner published an in-depth report on the inner-workings of G/O Media, including a list of grievances a large number of the staff had against Spanfeller, ranging from aggressive interactions and erratic assignments to overlooking women for top roles in the company and, a precursor to this week's massive walk-out, an increasingly stifling approach to editorial independence.

While Deadspin is known for its sports-related content, its writers have also always covered a range of topics that touched upon politics, culture, and media. Before Petchesky's termination on Tuesday, the editorial team was sent a memo instructing them that sports would be "the sole focus" of the site going forward, which many writers felt was an edict directly undermining everything Deadspin was about.

On Wednesday, following Petchesky's departure announcement, Tweets from his former colleagues started flooding the feed, each stating slightly different versions of the same thing: "I've resigned from Deadspin." A totally badass move on all their parts, but one that also illustrates the tensions between newsrooms and higher-ups across the industry.

.@barry no longer works at Deadspin and that means I no longer work at Deadspin. Bye!
— MALIK BEASLEY SZN 🚀😤 NUGGETS 82-0 (@ToLey88) October 30, 2019

I quit today too https://t.co/W7meIcW0Cx
— Laura Wagner (@laurawags) October 30, 2019

hi, so I'm leaving Deadspin. it's been the best two and a half years of my life, but it's time to move on
— Lauren Theisen (@theisen95) October 30, 2019

Just now I resigned my position at Deadspin today along with many of my colleagues. I have been here only five months but they have been some of the best of my career and I will miss it deeply.
— kelsey mckinney (@mckinneykelsey) October 30, 2019

I will also be leaving Deadspin. It was the best four years of my life, and I will miss my pack of wild dogs dearly.
— patrick (@redford) October 30, 2019