Apple CEO Tim Cook Allegedly Just Killed A Show About Gawker Because They Outed Him All The Way Back In 2008
Source - Tim Cook reportedly put the kibosh on an Apple TV production based on the notoriously snarky gossip website Gawker.
The Apple CEO — who, along with his company, had been a frequent target of the now-defunct website — learned about the production and the project was quietly canceled, according to The New York Times.
The show, called “Scraper,” was sold to Apple TV by two former Gawker staffers and had already completed several episodes before Apple pulled the plug, the Times said. Along with the site’s former editor-in-chief Max Read and editor Cord Jefferson, the show had also recruited former editors Emma Carmichael and Leah Beckmann, according to the report.
Gawker infamously outed Cook as gay in 2008 and its sister site Gizmodo somehow got ahold of an iPhone 4 in 2010, causing a long legal battle. The company did not comment on the reported cancellation.
What goes around comes around, doesn't it? Gawker, for the record, is the same website that outed Peter Thiel (PayPay CEO) in 2007, which ultimately lead to him backing Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against them in 2013. They then went bankrupt three years later after essentially being "sued out of existence," which I love. I also love that Cook, another gay man, decided to twist the knife in a website that not only outed him, but publicly took pride in trying to ruin other gay mens' lives. Especially considering Cook is the billionaire CEO of the most valuable company on earth.
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Here's how the cancellation went down according to an anonymous source:
"An Apple executive got an email from the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook,” the New York Times wrote. “Mr. Cook, according to two people briefed on the email, was surprised to learn that his company was making a show about Gawker, which had humiliated the company at various times and famously outed him, back in 2008, as gay. He expressed a distinctly negative view toward Gawker, the people said. Apple proceeded to kill the project. And now, the show is back on the market and the executive who brought it in, Layne Eskridge, has left the company.”
Tough break for Laybe Eskridge.
Funny story about being outed...The last time I was home I found out that I was outed to my friends in 2009. Even though it happened over ten years ago, the rage that came over me was indescribable. I almost when to the grocery store where the person works to confront him, but decided I'd just wink at him next time he asks me "paper or plastic." Why am I telling you this? Because I understand why Cook did what he did. Being outed suckkkss and in the words of Seth from Superbad, "people don't forget."
It'll be interesting to see if any other outlets decide to pick up the show. Although I doubt they will considering no one wants to be on Tim Cook's bad side. It's not good for business.