A popular conservative news website issued an apology Monday after publishing a sarcastic story to announce its editor-at-large’s resignation over objections to the handling of recent Donald Trump controversy.
A story headlined “Ben Shapiro Betrays Loyal Breitbart Readers in Pursuit of Fox News Contributorship,” appeared on Breitbart News Monday morning. In it, the news organization said Shapiro, who tendered his resignation as its editor-at-large Sunday, was “abandoning” all that his mentor, conservative icon and Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart, had worked for.
“Friends of Hamas could not be found for comment,” the report said.
The story ran next to a photograph of a baby snake hatching from its shell, apparently for emphasis,” the Breitbart report said.
It did not mention Fields’ resignation.
The story was taken down early Monday and later replaced with a statement from Joel Pollak, Breitbart News’ in-house counsel and editor-at-large.
He said the earlier story went up “as a result of a misunderstanding without going through the normal editorial channels.”
“The article was written by me as part of an effort to make light of a significant company event,” he said. “I apologize to Michelle Fields, my friend Ben Shapiro, and to everyone concerned.”
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