Breitbart piece mocking editor who resigned was written under father's pseudonym
By Hadas Gold
03/14/16 09:29 AM EDT
Updated 03/14/16 09:41 AM EDT
http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/breitbart-mocking-ben-shapiro-220712Early Monday morning Breitbart posted, and then deleted, a piece mocking Ben Shapiro, the site's editor-at-large who resigned on Sunday evening.
"Former Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro announced Sunday evening via left-wing Buzzfeed that he is abandoning Andrew Breitbart’s lifelong best friend, widow, hand-picked management team and friends in pursuit of an elusive contributorship at the Fox News Channel," the story begins. "It was business as usual for the ambitious conservative gadfly, who is known to live on the edge, courting and then leaving a series of companies over the past several years.
In an interview Shapiro denied he was looking to work for Fox News and that he has "never received" a job from the network. Shapiro, who is a Ted Cruz supporter, also said he did not violate his employment contract as the piece originally noted, since he is an "at will" employee.
The unusual piece, which can be read in full here, was even more shocking for Shapiro because it was posted under the pseudonym his father used while writing for the site — William Bigelow.
Shapiro's father, the writer David Shapiro, also resigned from Breitbart on Sunday evening.According to the younger Shapiro, his father was hired under the pseudonym to protect his safety since the younger Shapiro said he received so many death threats for his writings.
"Breitbart put this under his byline because they knew I'd have to out him," Shapiro said in an interview on Monday, adding that by linking to his profile with the California State Bar the site exposed personal information, though that information is outdated. "The fact they would use my father’s pseudonym in order to attack me just exposes how despicable they are."
Shapiro and reporter Michelle Fields resigned from the site on Sunday evening after both felt the site was choosing to defend Donald Trump over their own reporter following an incident on Tuesday when Fields said she was forcibly grabbed by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
Along with Fields, Shapiro, and Shapiro's father, Breitbart spokesperson Kurt Bardella parted ways with the company last week, and another editor and reporter are expected to resign on Monday, a Breitbart source told POLITICO.In a statement, Breitbart News Editor-at-Large and In-House Counsel Joel B. Pollak said the article was written in jest.
"The article was written by me as part of an effort to make light of a significant company event, and was published as a result of a misunderstanding without going through the normal editorial channels," Pollak said. "I apologize to Michelle Fields, my friend Ben Shapiro, and to everyone concerned."
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Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico.
