The Daily Beast has parted ways with its Washington bureau chief Howard Kurtz, after a column by Kurtz on openly gay NBA player Jason Collins was pulled due to errors.
Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown tweeted the news Thursday, writing, "@thedailybeast & @HowardKurtz have parted company…we wish him well."
Brown elaborated in a statement obtained by TheWrap.
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“The Daily Beast and Howard Kurtz have parted company," Brown wrote. "Under the direction of our newly named political director John Avlon we have added new momentum and authority to our Washington bureau with columnists such as Jon Favreau, Joshua Dubois and Stuart Stevens joining our outstanding DC team of Eleanor Clift, Daniel Klaidman, Michael Tomasky, Eli Lake, David Frum and Michelle Cottle – giving us one of the best politics teams in the business which was instrumental in this week’s Webby win for Best News site.”
The parting of ways with Kurtz comes after the digital publication retracted a post by Kurtz about Collins, an NBA player who came out as gay in a Sports Illustrated op-ed on Monday.
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In the post, Kurtz originally wrote that Collins "didn't come clean" about the fact that he had been engaged, and later amended his post to say that Collins "downplayed" the engagement.
Kurtz also wrote that Collins "didn't dwell on" the engagement.
In the Sports Illustrated piece, which Collins co-wrote with Franz Lidz, Collins directly addressed the engagement, noting, "When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue."
"The Daily Beast sincerely regrets Kurtz’s error-and any implication that Collins attempted to hide or obscure the engagement," the publication wrote of the retraction.
UPDATE:
Kurtz indicated that his departure was already in the works before the Jason Collins story, tweeting:
I've enjoyed my time at the Daily Beast but as we began to move in different directions, both sides agreed it was best to part company.
– HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 2, 2013
This was in the works for some time, but want to wish all my colleagues continued success with a terrific website.
– HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 2, 2013
Newsweek and the Beast are great brands, but the time had come for me to move on to other opportunities.
– HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 2, 2013