The City Paper‘s acquisition by the Baltimore Sun just got very real. Seven CP employees were laid off yesterday, including creative director Joe MacLeod, circulation director Christine Grabowski, production director Athena Towery, business manager Susan Slike, digital director Andrew Vogel, classified line representative Andrew Aquino, and receptionist Veronica Eldridge.
MacLeod’s departure — after 25 years with the paper — was the most spectacular. According to a blog post from editor Evan Serpick, the “Mr. Wrong” columnist submitted an unbroken string of four-letter words beginning with F — except for a single instance of “The Sun” — for what would have been his final installment. Current owners Times-Shamrock would agree neither to print it nor to have it published online. City Paper proposed a blank column with a headline that acknowledged the censorship; Times-Shamrock rejected that as well.
A little after 4 p.m., MacLeod tweeted the following:
I AM FIRED.
— Joe MacLeod (@JOEMACLEOD666) February 27, 2014
Did you notice the link to the editorial blog about Mr Wrong’s last column doesn’t work? Interesting don’t you think?
The column was not a final column, just a reaction to Current Events. The “Mr. Wrong” column continues to run in City Paper.