Vox Media Editorial Director Lockhart Steele was abruptly fired on Thursday for unspecified acts of misconduct.
“Lockhart Steele was terminated effective immediately. Lock admitted engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values and is not tolerated at Vox Media,” Fay Sliger, a company spokesperson, told TheWrap.
“Vox Media is committed to fostering a safe and welcoming community, and appreciates those who have been willing to speak up and share information during the course of this investigation,” she added.
Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff broke the news to staff members on Thursday in a slack “Ask me anything.”
It remains unclear what conduct ran afoul of the company’s values. The company declined to answer any specific question questions about the nature of his behavior.
Steele’s termination from Vox comes just one week after a report by Buzzfeed about the “Sh—y Media Men” list, a spreadsheet shared among women working mainly in New York-area media that identified problematic behavior by their male colleagues. The list compiled allegations ranging from inappropriate “flirting” and “weird lunch dates,” to sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, rape, and violence.
The content of the list has not been made public. A spokesperson for Vox did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Wrap about whether the Steele investigations were linked to the list.
Steele emerged as a key player in digital media as the founder of the websites Eater, Racked, and Curbed. He sold the suite of blogs to Vox in 2013 in a deal estimated at the time to be worth between $20 and $30 million.