A senior media commentator in the United States has been stood down after being caught masturbating on a Zoom call with colleagues.
Jeffrey Toobin, who works as a legal commentator for both The New Yorker and CNN, made the transgression during a virtual election simulation with New Yorker staff.
Toobin has since apologised for the incident, claiming he did not realise his video was on.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologise to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” Toobin told Motherboard.
“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.”
The New Yorker confirmed it has suspended Toobin while the matter is investigated.
CNN also released a statement on the matter, saying: “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.”
Despite the action against Toobin, many are suggesting it is not strong enough.
https://twitter.com/blettauaolcom1/status/1318318535307874305
Let's just be clear…there is no way the New Yorker and CNN are going to keep Jeffrey Toobin on the payroll.
He didn't get caught on a zoom changing his pants or something…he was masturbating. They may go through the formality of investigations but he will not be kept on.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 20, 2020
Buzzfeed, however, has since published an article, controversially titled ‘Jeffrey Toobin Can’t Be The Only Person Masturbating On Work Zoom Calls’.
“Haven’t we all done something on a work call that, in normal circumstances, we’d never do during a meeting? Let he without sin cast the first stone; the benefit of working from home is in the comfort to do whatever you want,” the article says.
what the ever living fuck Buzzfeed
you think its normal for people to masturbate during work calls??
is this what journalists do? is this normal for them??https://t.co/dsoyJGl4id
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) October 20, 2020
Buzzfeed out here trying to normalize Zoomsterbating https://t.co/4lEFoxF1H5
— Jake Coco 🙏🏻💙🇺🇸 (@jakecoco) October 20, 2020
There have, of course, been a raft of memes to emerge from the Toobin affair.
We’ll leave you to sift through those, but will leave you with this one from George Costanza…
