Condé Nast Lifestyle Video Chief Matt Duckor Exits After Bon Appétit Storm And Resurfacing Of His Offensive Tweets – Deadline
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Matt Duckor, who led lifestyle programming for Condé Nast, has left the company in the wake of a storm at Bon Appétit and the reappearance of past tweets from Duckor making racist and homophobic comments.
Former Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport resigned earlier this week after a photo of him in brownface resurfaced online and staffers called out race-based pay inequity at the food brand. Media companies across the spectrum have been recalibrating and in some cases responding to internal strife as protests continue after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in May.
The departure of Duckor, who joined Condé Nast in 2011, was confirmed to Deadline by a company spokesman, who had no further comment.
After being the first to report Duckor’s exit, Business Insider said an investigation into his conduct was under way at Condé Nast. Although Duckor’s Twitter account is now private, some of his offensive tweets from the past recirculated this week.
In one, he tweeted at New York Times food editor Sam Sifton, asking him if he was “in Harlem with the black people and Asian same-sex couples.” He mock-complained about meeting with “loads of hot Asian women” and “checking them out” while on the job. In another, Duckor wrote, “Amazing. ‘Gay men use the gym as a place to socialize and to have secret liaisons in the bathrooms.’ WORKING OUT IS SO GAY.”
In a starkly worded statement on Wednesday, the staff of Bon Appétit called the photo of Rapoport “horrific” and also acknowledged the “longstanding impact of racism” at the company. “We have been complicit with a culture we don’t agree with and are committed to change,” the statement said.
Condé Nast, which owns such major magazines as The New Yorker and Vogue, has for the better part of a decade been pivoting to video via its entertainment arm. It has delivered a shot in the arm with print circulation and advertising in decline. The explosion of online viewing and, more recently, streaming, has enabled lifestyle brands like Bon Appétit to gain traction and develop savvy promotions on social media.
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