Poor old Gawker. First, they had the misfortune of being sued for the trivial matter of publishing a Hulk Hogan sex tape. Then after winning the first time round, they were bankrupted after charges were refiled in Florida. Their sister sites, flogged off to Univision for a pittance, are up for sale again. And their old domain was purchased in July by Bleacher Report and Elite Daily founder Bryan Goldberg, a man who had previously dubbed an ‘asshole’ and a ‘clueless scamp’ in their virtual pages.
What did Goldberg want with Gawker? Many speculated at the time of sale that he merely wanted to delete the mean things they’d said about him. But the reality arrives fresh from every snark merchant’s nightmares. Today beta.gawker was (briefly) up and running…or perhaps down and sinking is a better way of putting it:
Oh my god – the new Gawker beta site is just loads of posts from Bustle 👀 pic.twitter.com/WEcWMQdzsA
— Joshi Herrmann (@joshi) November 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/Bernstein/status/1059804472225001473
Needless to say, ex-Gawker Media staffers are not pleased with the new makeover. ‘please stop putting screenshots of the new gawker site in my timeline i already want to die enough,’ wrote HuffPost’s Ashley Feinberg.
please stop putting screenshots of the new gawker site in my timeline i already want to die enough
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) November 6, 2018
‘Yes, the beta Gawker site was just Bustle content. But Nu Gawker will likely also be staffed by underpaid young women, as is the evident pattern of the dude who owns the site now. Anyway: I would be delighted to give you all some info on unionizing,’ tweeted Gizmodo Special Projects Reporter Anna Merlan.
Yes, the beta Gawker site was just Bustle content. But Nu Gawker will likely also be staffed by underpaid young women, as is the evident pattern of the dude who owns the site now. Anyway: I would be delighted to give you all some info on unionizing! Email in bio. 💫
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) November 6, 2018
‘New Gawker was explicitly designed to hunt and kill me for sport, and it worked,’ wrote Jalopnik’s Patrick George.
https://twitter.com/bypatrickgeorge/status/1059809548570165248
Some even predicted that this would happen. Per Hazel Cills of Jezebel:
‘Bustle has continued to trudge along these days largely as a content farm, always there when you need to Google in-depth journalism like “Halo Top’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Flavor Is Only Here For A Limited Time — Here’s How To Score A Pint For Free” or “Every New CVS Summer Beauty Item Is Less Than $20 So Get Ready To Spend.” Perhaps this kind of writing is what *shudders* will become of Gawker. But no matter what we’ll always have the memories, tender, beautiful memories, of how much Bryan Goldberg sucked (and will continue to suck).’
Perhaps the downtrodden staffers’ best hope is that some benevolent billionaire comes along and helps them out. Apparently this guy is flush with cash.
