Mitchell Sunderland, a senior staff writer for Broadly, Vice.com’s channel for women, was terminated Friday from the network one day after BuzzFeed news reported that he had emailed Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos specifically requesting that he “mock” “fat feminist” Lindy West.
West is a regular contributor to the New York Times, where she writes about feminism. She is the author of “Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman,”
A Vice spokesman told The Wrap that Sunderland had been fired “effective immediately.”
Sunderland faced a storm of criticism after Buzzfeed reported on his correspondence with the controversial former Breitbart tech editor. According to their website’s about page, Broadly’s mission is “devoted to representing the multiplicity of women’s experiences,” and that they aim to “provide a sustained focus on the issues that matter most to women.”
In the crux of their original story, BuzzFeed used emails sent from Yiannopoulos which they obtained to paint a damning picture showing that the Breitbart tech editor had openly solicited input from neo-Nazis on the piece “An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right,” which he co-bylined. The touchstone story played a significant role in defining the still nascent movement in the broader U.S. consciousness.
Yiannopoulos told the The Wrap before the news became public that he was dismayed at the negative attention Sunderland was receiving and said he would offer him a job if and when the ax came down.
“This would hardly be the first time the left has hounded someone out of employment for wrongthink, would it? You can bully people into being politically correct in public but you can’t change how they think in private and they will only grow to hate you if you try,” said Yiannopoulos. “I hope he doesn’t lose his job — but I’ll offer him a new one if he does.”
Before his dismissal, Sunderland had been a rising star at Vice and the media ecosystem. He was a featured speaker at last month’s Juggalo march in Washington D.C. and is currently working on a book about dog breeders.