Polymarket users are long A24's Backrooms.
Plus a conversation with one of Condé Nast's "Fired Four."
Good afternoon, everyone.
Things got a bit disorganized and out of hand when I asked X users about the best bar to watch the Knicks playoffs at, but I’m not scared. I am committed to organizing the responses (and the ones you’ve emailed me about so far) for Monday’s newsletter.
Today’s newsletter includes: Zach Schiffman on how he’s balancing his new modeling career with being the best social media manager in media, The Ankler Team poached an editor from WSJ, and Polymarket bets on Backrooms.
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A conversation with one of the Fired Four.
You might remember a video taken within the hallways of Condé Nast going viral last November — NewsGuild union members confronted Head of HR Stan Duncan over layoffs outside his 34th-floor 1WTC office. The next day, four union members were fired. This morning, I received an email from The NewsGuild of New York outlining the settlement that has been reached between the union and Condé Nast.
Under the terms of the settlement, three of the illegally fired workers — Alma Avalle (who worked at Bon Appétit), Ben Dewey (who worked at Condé Nast Entertainment) and Jasper Lo (who worked at The New Yorker) — were:
Reinstated as employees in good standing
Awarded significant financial settlements totaling more than $400K
and provided letters of recommendation, with all disciplinary records expunged
So you’re probably asking: what about the fourth of the Fired Four, Wired’s Jake Lahut? At the time of the dismissal, he was a “probationary employee” and not yet covered under the contract’s Just Cause provisions. He is, however, protected by federal labor law “as a union member and the NewsGuild of New York has an active unfair labor practice charge on his behalf at the National Labor Relations Board.”
I spoke to Jake (who now freelances at Sherwood Media and New York Magazine) about the unusual position he is now in. Topics discussed include: Condé’s opaqueness around his “lesser” settlement, advice for young reporters, and what life has been like since November.
Emily Sundberg: You were fired in November after the viral clip of the four of you in the office was circulated. What has life been like since then?
Jake Lahut: “It’s been something between a very bad trip and a sabbatical. I’ve done some work I’m really proud of, like my scoopy Nancy Mace profile for NY Mag or this behind the scenes piece I had about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for Transformer, an AI-focused newsletter out of the UK.
Unemployment is never a bad thing for achieving your fitness goals, either.”
ES: The company’s stated reason for your “lesser” settlement was your probationary status, but as your lawyer has pointed out, that doesn’t actually shield them under federal labor law (which is why this case is going to NLRB)… why do you think they drew the line at you specifically?
JL: “I genuinely have no clue, especially if the goal was to put this little PR nightmare behind them. But if I had to put my reporter hat on and use some deductive reasoning to come up with a thesis (before making some calls, of course), I would guess they are looking to hold the line on being able to fire probationary employees for any reason, or no reason at all.”