Gawker Under Fire for Story About Condé Nast CFO and Gay Porn Actor

“I dont say this lightly: This is repugnant, shameful journalism,” New York Times political reporter Michael Barbaro writes

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Gawker is being universally criticized for a story published Thursday about Condé Nast CFO David Geithner’s plans for a weekend rendezvous with a gay porn star in Chicago.

Geithner, the brother of former United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and married-to-a-woman father of three, allegedly sent a series of text messages to “Ryan,” a gay porn star, promising to pay $2,500 for three hours of his services, flight, and room at the Four Seasons.

The website published a series of text messages between the two, as well as an image of mail sent to Ryan from Geithner with the first installment of the payment upfront before their weekend together. There were also sexual images sent.

“But this would not be a simple sexual transaction. Geithner, it seems, fucked with the wrong escort,” Gawker’s Jordan Sargent wrote.

“The escort — who does not want to reveal his identity for professional reasons, but whom we will call Ryan — says he bailed on the date with the married (to a woman) father of three because Geithner declined to use his influence to help with a housing dispute.”

The response to the story was overwhelmingly negative.

Gawker Senior Writer Adam Weinstein also chimed in, criticizing his website: “I had no part in this. I would not have chosen to run it as is.”

The two never ended up meeting up, as Geithner called it off after Ryan asked if he could help him in a housing dispute. Geithner denied the story to Gawker, telling them this was a “shakedown” and he never communicated with Ryan and doesn’t know him.

The story was published at 8:26 p.m. ET Thursday. As of Friday morning, author Jordan Sargent has not commented on the outrage aimed his way.

Gawker did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

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