The online publication Slate has suspended a well-known podcast host after discussing with colleagues whether people who are not black should be able to quote a racist Slur in certain contexts.
Mike Pesca, the host of “The Gist,” a podcast about news and culture, said in an interview that he was suspended indefinitely on Monday after defending the use of the arc in certain contexts. He argued last week during a conversation with colleagues on the Slack interoffice messaging platform.
In a long line of messages, Slate staff discussed the resignation of Donald G. McNeil Jr., a reporter who said this month he had resigned from the New York Times after holding the arc during a discussion on racism at work had used as a guide for a student trip in 2019.
Mr Pesca, who is white, said he felt there were contexts in which the arc could be used, as shown in screenshots of the Slack conversation shared with The Times. Dan Check, Slate’s general manager, stepped in to end the discussion.
Katie Rayford, Slate’s spokeswoman, confirmed that “The Gist” had been suspended pending an investigation but did not want to comment on Mr. Pesca. “While I cannot address certain allegations that are being investigated,” Ms. Rayford said, “I can confirm that this was not a decision based on an isolated abstract argument on a Slack channel.”
Defector Media, a digital outlet focusing on sports and culture, previously reported on the suspension of Mr Pesca and the internal debate at Slate.
Mr Pesca investigated the dispute over the use of the bow in a 2019 podcast about a black security officer who was fired for its use. In a recording of the episode, Mr Pesca said he used the term while quoting the man but asked his producer to do a version without the term. After consulting with his producers and supervisor who protested his quote of the bow, they decided to use the version without it, he said.
“The version of the story with the offensive word was never aired and that’s how I think the editorial process should go,” Pesca said in an interview.
No action was taken against him following an investigation by the human resources department into his quote from the arch, Pesca said. He said he apologized to the producers involved.
In November 2019, Slate introduced a policy that requires podcast presenters and producers to discuss the use of racial terms in an upcoming episode in or from quoted material before it is recorded.
Mr Pesca said Mr Check, the executive director, and Jared Hohlt, editor-in-chief of Slate, raised the previous instance of his citing the sheet when they spoke to him after speaking with Slack. He added that they had mentioned another case where he used the term which he did not remember.
Mr Pesca, whose interview style at times seemed to epitomize Slates’ contrary brand, said he was told on Friday that he would be suspended for a week without pay. He was told on Monday the suspension was indefinite, he said.
Mr Pesca, who has worked at Slate for seven years, said he had “heart disease” for hurting his colleagues but added, “I hate the idea of things that cannot be discussed and things that cannot be said can.”
Jacob Weisberg, Slate’s former chairman and editor-in-chief, who left the company in 2018 for the podcast start-up Pushkin, described Mr. Pesca as “a great talent and a fair journalist”.
“I don’t think he did anything that deserves discipline or consequence, and I think it’s an example of some kind of overreaction and lack of judgment and perspective that is unfortunately spreading,” said Weisberg.
Joel Anderson, a black Slate employee who hosted the third season of the Slow Burn podcast, disagreed. “It is an extremely small question for black employees not to hear that particular bow and not debate whether it is okay for white employees to use that particular bow,” he said.
