Gizmodo’s senior consumer tech editor, Alex Cranz, said she was fired from the company last Friday for her involvement in a union letter about an “internal tech product” sent to management, and that her termination came after members of management approached her with “false allegations” about her work performance that she had contested.
“On Friday they fired me and specifically, and repeatedly, cited my involvement in a letter from the union to management as the reason for my termination,” Cranz told TheWrap in an email. “Approximately 9 weeks ago they did come to me with false allegations about my performance that I contested. In early January we had a follow up meeting in which the matter seemed to be put to rest. Until my abrupt termination Friday [Gizmodo Editor in Chief] John Biggs had had nothing but kind words for me and my performance.”
“I will continue to contest this unjust termination as I feel it is important for G/O Media to understand it cannot bully employees,” she continued. “There are always paths to a positive resolution and I am deeply saddened that G/O Media has chosen the most unpleasant one.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Cranz shared a statement on Twitter that specifically named Biggs, G/O Media Editorial Director Jim Rich and CEO Jim Spanfeller and said she had been subjected to an “ongoing pattern of harassment and fabricated allegations.”
Kelly Bourdet, the former editor in chief of Gizmodo, also said in a tweet that she had filed a formal complaint with Human Resources over the “bizarre and overt targeting” of Cranz by G/O’s management.
“I followed up on it for months and was never given an answer and nothing happened! The last email I wrote as EIC of Giz was to G/O’s lawyer expressing my profound disappointment in the company’s actions,” Bourdet tweeted.
In a statement sent to TheWrap, G/O Media — which also owns Deadspin, Jezebel and The Onion — said Cranz’s accusations were “meritless.”
“In regards to Ms. Cranz, a thorough nine-week process was conducted and did not net satisfactory results. The claims of ‘ongoing harassment’ and ‘fabricated allegations’ are meritless. We thank Ms. Cranz for her contributions at Gizmodo, and wish her the best in future endeavors,” the company said.
“G/O Media likes to say things in the hopes that others will be financially bullied into silence. It is so disappointing that they would slander me to the press rather than admit the truth,” Cranz responded in an email to TheWrap.