One of four journalists recently fired by Condé Nast for confronting the company’s head of human resources is asking internet users for help covering his rent.
Ex-senior writer for Wired Jake Lahut was seen in a Wednesday video clip standing feet away from HR boss Stan Duncan as angry employees confronted to exec over layoffs tied to Condé’s downsizing of Teen Vogue. The layoffs of Lahut and three others came just hours later.
Lahut wrote on Spotfund that he’s seeking short-term help in the wake of his firing.
“After getting terminated as one of the Fired Four at Condé Nast, I need to shore up a couple months of rent as I get on my feet,” he wrote.
“Any amount helps,” Lahut added. “Plus, New York is expensive!”
As of Friday afternoon, the scribe had received more than $5,000 from dozens of donors. He was aiming to raise a total of $8,800 through the Spotfund campaign.
The Post has sought comment from Lahut.
He noted that he worked as a live-in super before landing the Wired gig, “and my finances were barely making it work at the time.”
In footage that was first obtained by The Wrap, Lahut was seen just a few feet away from Duncan as he was being confronted by around 20 editorial staffers on the 34th floor of Condé’s offices in One World Trade Center.
Duncan was filmed asking the employees to stop “congregating” outside his office before telling them to leave.
“What counts as congregating?” Lahut asks. “What’s your definition of congregating?”
“We’d appreciate if you would go back to the workplace, to your workplace assignments,” Duncan replies.
“Is there a place that you’d be able to speak to us?” Alma Avalle of Bon Appétit asks Duncan. “Do you think we’re not worth speaking to, Sam?”
Duncan rebuffs further attempts by the employees to engage in a discussion, then walks down the hallway as he informs the miffed workers that he was in a meeting.
Avalle was one of the four employees who were terminated. The other two were Jasper Lo of the New Yorker and Ben Dewey of Condé Nast Entertainment.
NewsGuild of New York, the union representing company employees, said the video disproves management’s claims that the terminated workers engaged in “extreme misconduct.”
Condé Nast rejected the assertion, saying that the video doesn’t show the entire picture.
“The video footage shared by the union captures only a portion of the incident,” a company spokesperson told The Post.
“Several additional minutes are missing from their version.”
The company said the employees’ behavior was “aggressive, disruptive, and threatening” and filed a federal labor complaint against the union.
The NewsGuild of New York insisted the workers were engaging in legally protected collective action, arguing that the video “speaks for itself.”
Union President Susan DeCarava accused Condé Nast of trying to “bully them into silence.”
Credit: Source link
