Jeffrey Toobin, the US author and legal commentator, has been suspended by the New Yorker, and is stepping away from his job as CNN’s senior legal analyst after he reportedly exposed himself during a Zoom meeting last week.
Toobin’s transgression occurred during a virtual conference between New Yorker staff and local radio station WNYC, according to a story first posted by Vice.
Toobin called the incident “an embarrassingly stupid mistake,” in a statement to Vice. “I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” he added.
The reporter said the entire incident was accidental. “I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video,” he told Vice.
HuffPost reached out to Toobin for comment, but he did not immediately respond.
Motherboard reported that Toobin’s Conde Nast email has been disabled, and he has not tweeted from his Twitter account since Tuesday.
A spokesperson for The New Yorker confirmed that Toobin has been suspended “while we investigate the matter.”
In addition, Toobin is stepping away from his CNN gig, according to a statement given to the Associated Press.
“Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” a CNN spokesperson said.
The 60-year-old Toobin has been a New Yorker writer for more than 20 years and joined CNN in 2002. He is the author of several books, most recently “True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump,” published in August.
His other works include “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court” and “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” FX adapted the book into the hit true-crime anthology series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” The series won nine Emmy awards out of 22 nominations. Actor Chris Conner portrayed Toobin.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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