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From the Beast’s media desk

Welcome to this week’s edition of Confider, the media newsletter that pulls back the curtain to reveal what’s really going on inside the world’s most powerful navel-gazing industry. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.

EXCLUSIVE — TUCKER’S TEXT FEARS: Tucker Carlson is “shitting himself” over the possibility that texts between him and far-right conspiracy loon Alex Jones will leak, a source close to the Fox News star told Confider. Carlson and the raving Infowars ranter trade text messages on a daily basis, according to two people familiar with their relationship. If made public, these sources said, the text messages would be “highly embarrassing” for Carlson. Two years’ worth of text messages sent and received by Jones are now in the possession of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection after the far-right conspiracy king’s lawyers accidentally sent a digital copy of all his texts to the lawyers representing the families affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, which Jones repeatedly dubbed a “hoax.” The lawyer representing the families, Mark Bankston, has publicly said the texts include “intimate messages” between Jones and self-described “dirty trickster” Roger Stone, who melted down on Telegram and called for Jones to sue his own attorney. Carlson and Jones have been friends for years, with Carlson having made multiple appearances on Infowars, gushed over Jones as being “more talented than I am,” and supplied a fawning blurb for the bullshitting blowhard’s upcoming book. “Maybe Alex Jones is onto something,” Carlson wrote of his pal on the back cover of The Great Reset: And the War for the World. “Read this book and decide for yourself who’s crazy.” Carlson and Jones did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

EXCLUSIVE — ERIN OVER HER HEAD: Recently fired New Yorker archive editor Erin Overbey is being uncooperative with NewsGuild officials trying to help her get her job back, Confider has learned. According to two people familiar with the matter, Overbey has thus far refused to hand over key documents that could assist in her grievance against Condé Nast bosses. “It appears like an attempt to sabotage my attempt to file a termination grievance. I’ve raised these concerns directly with the Guild,” Overbey said in response. Her alleged lack of cooperation has only served to infuriate union officials, who were already frustrated with Overbey when she allegedly refused to hand over diversity data she compiled during collective bargaining, calling it her “insurance policy” and saying she would use it against Condé if they ever tried to fire her, two people familiar with the matter told Confider. “She googled people's faces and made conclusions whether they were white or not,” a New Yorker staffer told Confider, raising concerns about the integrity of the data. “I completely, categorically deny that,” Overbey told us. “There is more data that is even more damaging that I could have released.” Since her firing and very public flaming of her former publication, Overbey’s decades-long tenure at The New Yorker has come under intense scrutiny from her ex-colleagues, who continue to relay horror stories to the press. In one incident described to Confider by multiple sources, after Overbey’s manager sent her an email about missing deadlines, she responded with a screed accusing the editor of making racist remarks about the Central Park Five in a meeting that she’d only heard about secondhand. “This was something that I had heard and something that I was very concerned about,” Overbey recalled. “She said the Central Park Five should not have been exonerated and the magazine should not be covering [them] in any way that they were innocent. It was deeply troubling and deeply disturbing.” Concerned about the reputational damage the bogus claim could inflict, the manager sent the email to HR, which promptly launched an investigation into the matter before clearing the manager of any wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the incident. In another bizarre situation, she accused a female colleague of being anti-women after newsletter consolidations resulted in Overbey’s name disappearing from a newsletter. She allegedly emailed the colleague and accused her of “erasing the actual role—and labor—of a female editor,” which “is not, to my knowledge, in line with the ethos of the magazine.” The woman told a colleague that she was horrified by the accusation. “There is a pattern at the magazine of uplifting male contributions and diminishing the contributions of female employees in some instances,” Overbey told Confider. “And I have evidence to prove it.” Ultimately, there appears to be no end in sight for the ongoing battle between The New Yorker and Overbey: Staffers who spoke with Confider relayed a universal concern that she plans to next file a lawsuit against Condé Nast that would drag the messy affair out for many more months. Overbey said “no comment” on that point. A rep for The New Yorker declined to comment.

POSEN FOR SOCIAL SYMPATHY: An otherwise banal trade announcement published last week in Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) prompted a bizarre fashion media outburst. Under the headline “Neiman’s Gets an Exclusive Launch on Zac Posen,” WWD reported the department store will launch a ready-to-wear collection of dresses by the once-hot designer who sold his brand and related IP to Centric Brands in 2020. The article made clear “Zac Posen himself is not involved in this line,” but that didn’t stop Posen from posting a screenshot of the article to his Instagram account with the caption, “NOTME “#notmydesigns #justatrademark,” prompting a pity party from fashion and media insiders. “So upsetting. Can’t have your talent,” wrote Nina Garcia, editor-in-chief of Elle. “A nightmare. I hope you get your trademark back,” added Project Runway runner-up Ayana Ife. The post has clocked up 210 comments, including threats of a “boycott,” all while Posen has yet to bother clarifying that he willingly sold his name. “I am so pleased that Centric Brands is committed to the ‘Zac Posen’ brand and to building a new and relevant Zac Posen branded world,” Posen himself wrote in a press release announcing the sale. “I am looking forward to helping Jason [Rabin, CEO of Centric] and the team continue to identify and execute on strategic licensing opportunities and selectively build the brand’s global distribution and omnichannel marketing strategy.” A rep for Posen did not respond to a request for comment.

WE HEAR WHISPERS: Investors in Ben and Justin Smith’s (no relation to each other or the band) new media venture Semafor (pronounced “Sephora,” we think?) are growing concerned about how the much-hyped startup has yet to announce any big-name D.C. reporting hires just weeks away from launch. A murderers’ row of political reporters, including New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, Washington Post scribe David Weigel, and Axios star reporter Jonathan Swan have all turned down overtures from the former BuzzFeed News boss… NBC’s Today show bosses are mystified over the origins of a steady stream of salacious stories from The U.S. Sun claiming there’s a “feud” between the show’s top stars Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, including one story bizarrely parsing their body language during on-air hugs… CBS has enlisted Allison Sandza, the producer hired to run Kasie Hunt’s show on the defunct CNN+ streamer, to executive produce the broadcast network’s streaming initiatives in D.C.

Tips? We're all ears: confider@thedailybeast.com

More from the Beast’s Media Desk

—Sean Hannity was once the king of Fox News, easily raking in the most viewers of any show on the network. But times have changed: He’s now in fourth place behind shows helmed by Tucker Carlson, Greg Gutfeld, and Jesse Watters—hosts who’ve moved Fox News conservatism beyond Hannity’s stale GOP boosterism and into pure, uncut “own the libs” cynicism. More here.

—Controversial activist and social-media presence Shaun King can’t stop raising eyebrows about his fundraising and how he spends it. In response to a recent string of such stories from the New York Post, King has taken to personally threatening to dox the reporters involved. Read about that here.

—CPAC boss Matt Schlapp claimed he and Fox News host Laura Ingraham went “undercover” (in “camouflage” and tassel loafers) at the May 31, 2021 racial justice protests outside the White House. “All you could smell was drugs,” he recalled. Quelle horreur! More here.

—The worst-kept secret in media was finally confirmed last week: Alyssa Farah Griffin is the new conservative co-host of The View, replacing Meghan McCain and presumably bringing a few years of relative peace to a show once beset by McCain’s on- and off-air dramatics. More here.

—Rachel Maddow sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss her highly lucrative stepping-back at MSNBC. Noteworthy moments: Maddow took a grilling on her obsessive coverage of the Steele dossier; complimented former colleague Tucker Carlson’s professional success; and warned that 2024 will be no “dress rehearsal.” Read more here.

—Tabloid-ready Democratic operative and media bully Lis Smith’s new memoir has already been criticized as “self-serving” and “vapid.” But perhaps the harshest lashing came via New York magazine, which wrote of Smith: “Principles are for purists. What’s left is a void.” More on that here.

—The Dispatch exposed the social climbers of the “new right” who publicly claim populism while living elite lifestyles behind the scenes. The piece also revealed how conservative up-and-coming writer Nate Hochman—who was recently published in The New York Times—has quietly praised white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. More here.

—Two lawsuits filed this weekend by ex-employees against Project Veritas alleged a fratty, highly sexualized work environment at James O’Keefe’s right-wing org. One of the suits also alleged sexual harassment and assault by a field director, while the other claimed multiple staffers were not paid for overtime work. More here.

**WHAT ARE WE OUTRAGED ABOUT NOW?**

The moment former NBA star Jalen Rose said “Mount Rushmore” should be retired as a term signifying greatness, because it is “offensive” to Native Americans, you just knew it would become catnip for the right-wing outrage machine. With South Dakota’s culture-warrior governor and countless conservative pundits griping about Rose appeasing the “woke masses,” Fox News jumped into action on Monday, blasting the ESPN analyst’s attempt to “cancel” the national monument. (Funnily enough, Rose hosts a podcast and pens a weekly column for the Murdoch-owned New York Post.) At one point, Fox’s early morning host Todd Piro went off on a weird tangent while blasting Rose for allegedly being “part of the left that likes to tear things down,” blaming the retired point guard for making pro basketball “un-American” because back in Todd’s day “people were throwing elbows” because “that was America.”

Confider will be back next week with more saucy scooplets. In the meantime, send us questions, complaints and tips and subscribe here.

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