Bleeding Cool appointed a new Editor-in-Chief following an interview with Arkhaven Comics’ publisher Vox Day.
In an article on their site Kaitlyn Booth announced she would be the new Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool:
“Effective immediately, I am stepping into the role of Editor-in-Chief and will be implementing new review policies across the Bleeding Cool teams.”
Booth claims the change comes due to the interview with Vox Day which was conducted by Bleeding Cool’s managing editor Mark Seifert.
“Today one of our writers made an error in judgement resulting in giving exposure to viewpoints that we abhor. We will do better, going forward, and that is a promise. The author admits that this was an extreme error of judgement that never should have been made and that other members of the Bleeding Cool writing staff were unaware of the contents of this article.”
Bleeding Cool also took down the interview with Vox Day. (Archive link: http://archive.is/KgJ0s) However, it wasn’t without contention. Bleeding Cool’s most infamous writer and founder, Rich Johnston, disagreed with the decision.
Not my article. It’s not like I don’t have issues with it but I do disagree that interviewing someone is giving them a platform.
— R҉i҉c҉h҉ ҉J҉o҉h҉n҉s҉t҉o҉n҉ (@richjohnston) October 11, 2018
Booth would go on to apologize to their readers for the entire interview with Vox Day.
“Bleeding Cool would like to issue a sincere apology to everyone for the article in question.”
In a very bold statement, Booth would then claim that Bleeding Cool does “not support divisiveness in the fan community.”
“We do not support divisiveness in the fan community, or in our culture at large. We do not support those that try to bring down others. We support diversity in all aspects of pop culture. We support everyone fighting the good fight against bigotry and only wish we could play a part in making not only the internet but the world a safer place for all individuals.”
She then apologizes again:
“We cannot apologize enough for the people we have offended. We cannot apologize enough for the breach of trust this has had with our readers and people within the community.”
Vox Day responded to Bleeding Cool’s retraction and apology on his blog:
“This retraction and apology is more than a little amusing, in light of Mark Siefert’s well-intentioned attempt to understand the other side and play peacemaker. But as I had originally warned him, SJWs cannot understand anything and one cannot reason with them. Delenda est.”
He would add:
“Meanwhile, John Trent of Bounding Into Comics is celebrating his new monopoly on all the independent comics news.”
Bleeding Cool’s apology and removal of the interview comes after IndieGoGo pulled Vox Day and Arkhaven Comics’ Alt-Hero: Q crowdfunding campaign. Vox intimated that Bleeding Cool readers might have lobbied IndieGoGo to pull the plug on Alt-Hero: Q.
We reached out to Mark Seifert, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
What do you make of Bleeding Cool’s retraction and apology? Do you agree with their stance to remove the interview?