The Fader on Friday suspended president and publisher Andy Cohn, a company spokesperson told TheWrap.
Cohn’s suspension comes days after the independent music and lifestyle site’s head of content, Eric Sundermann, was terminated following accusations of sexual misconduct that first circulated on Twitter and were followed by an extensive report on Jezebel.
In addition, The Fader announced that it had hired outside attorneys to launch an “independent investigation into our company’s workplace policies and systems — not just to find out where we went wrong, but how we can improve our culture moving forward.”
“Our employees are the foundation of our culture. We hope to empower them through this process to help us improve our workplace support systems, policies and culture,” the spokesperson added. “We are putting immediate steps in place to encourage more feedback and an open dialogue.”
“We apologize to those who we have let down. The Fader will continue to strive to make its community, and its workplace, a place where everyone can feel safe and respected so that their creative energies and talents can shine,” the statement continued. “We pledge that these changes will make The Fader stronger in the years ahead.”
Sundermann and Cohn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In Emily Alford’s Jezebel story, multiple unidentified women accused Sundermann of repeatedly groping female coworkers at industry events, pressuring young staffers into sex acts and retaliating against women who complained about his behavior. The accusations concern Sundermann’s behavior at The Fader as well as at Vice Media, where he worked from 2013 through 2018 (serving as editor in chief for the last three years of his tenure).
The Fader was founded in 1999 by music and marketing entrepreneurs Rob Stone and Jon Cohen as a music magazine.
A former editorial staffer at The Fader who worked closely with Sundermann told TheWrap that he and Cohn “had a close friendship” and even before Sundermann was brought in to lead the Fader, employees would joke that he’d one day be their boss as a result.