The editor of the UK’s Gay Times has been sacked for tweeting a series of antisemitic and misogynistic comments as well as using Twitter to attack gay people, homeless people and disabled children.
Josh Rivers took the position only last month, but his future was placed in jeopardy after a string of incendiary posts on his Twitter account between 2010 and 2015 came to light. He was suspended by the magazine on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, it announced that it had dismissed him.
In a statement, it said: “After an investigation of the facts surrounding historical tweets by Josh Rivers, the newly-appointed editor of Gay Times magazine; we announce that his employment has been terminated with immediate effect.
“We sincerely apologise for the offence that has been caused, particularly to those members of our wider community to whom such inappropriate and unacceptable commentary was the focus.
“Gay Times does not tolerate such views and will continue to strive to honour and promote inclusivity.”
Rivers had taken on the role with a mandate to promote inclusivity. But the offending tweets, since deleted, showed him directing hate towards Jews, lesbians, overweight people, as well as Asian and Chinese people.
“I wonder if they cast that guy as ‘The Jew’ because of that fucking ridiculously large honker of a nose,” he tweeted in 2011. “It must be prosthetic. Must be.”
In another tweet, he asked for film recommendations but excluded films about the Holocaust. Rivers also described Jews as “gross”.
Rivers tweeted an apology on Tuesday and said in an accompanying statement that at the time he faced “issues that prevented me from treating people with the respect and kindness I value so dearly now”.
