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Top executive Matt Duckor is out at Condé Nast after homophobic and racist tweets and allegations of suppressing diversity by Bon Appétit staffers

Jun 11, 2020, 18:22 IST
Business Insider
Matthew Peyton/Getty Images for BroadwayHD; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
  • The Condé Nast vice president Matt Duckor has left the company, according to an email sent to the staff from Condé Nast Entertainment's president, Oren Katzeff.
  • In a Business Insider investigation published Tuesday, current and former staffers said that Duckor failed to include nonwhite talent in Bon Appétit's video content.
  • Do you have more stories from inside media you want to tell? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com.
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The Condé Nast vice president Matt Duckor has left the company, according to an email from Condé Nast Entertainment's president, Oren Katzeff, obtained by Business Insider.

An interim replacement will be announced "as soon as possible," Katzeff said in his email.

Katzeff wrote:

"First, I want to thank you for your honesty and candor over these last many days. It takes courage and conviction to bring forward the issues you've experienced and the ideas on our needed changes at CNE. I know you wouldn't be speaking up if you weren't passionate about the work we do together. We've already started the process of reviewing our practices and over the next week we'll be bringing forward a plan of action centered on diversity and inclusion. We'll be working with you in the key areas we need to improve — our talent selection and hiring (both in front of and behind the camera), our programming strategy, pilot development, our compensation practices, and more."

In a Business Insider investigation published Tuesday, current and former staffers said Duckor failed to include nonwhite talent in Bon Appétit's video content. Additionally, a Twitter user surfaced offensive tweets by Duckor about gay people and people of color, for which he apologized, saying there was "no excuse for them."

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As a vice president at Condé Nast, Duckor was the head of video for Bon Appétit, along with Condé Nast brands such as Architectural Digest and Vogue. Video has become a cash cow for the struggling media company in recent years.

Business Insider previously reported on Wednesday that Duckor was under investigation at Condé Nast.

The Bon Appétit leadership team has been under scrutiny since this weekend, after a 2013 photo surfaced of the publication's editor in chief, Adam Rapoport, dressed in a Halloween costume intended to be stereotypically Puerto Rican. He resigned Monday. Many described his costume as "brownface," which Rapoport denied. In text messages to Business Insider on Tuesday, he said: "On the record: I was not wearing makeup or face coloring of any sort in that photograph."

Meanwhile, employees have revealed Katzeff's own questionable internet history. According to a Daily Beast story published Tuesday, Katzeff himself drew outrage from staffers over a series of tweets concerning Mexicans and women.

"There either is a cat on my flight, meowing repeatedly a few rows behind me, or a REALLY horny woman," Katzeff wrote in a 2014 tweet, which has since been deleted.

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A request for comment sent to Condé Nast and Duckor wasn't immediately returned.

Do you have more stories from inside media you want to tell? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com.

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