Longtime SI soccer writer Grant Wahl -- one of the "foremost chroniclers of the sport" in the U.S. and a 24-year veteran of the publication -- revealed on Twitter that he had been "fired," according to Ben Strauss of the WASHINGTON POST. Wahl's Friday announcement came "a little more than a week after at least six editorial staffers were laid off" by parent company The Maven and "six months after some 40 employees." Shortly after Wahl's tweet, Maven Founder & CEO James Heckman emailed SI staff and "criticized Wahl." He wrote, "Every senior staff member volunteered to put their personal budgeted future at risk, to save jobs and ensure stable salaries for those making less. Everyone, that is, but one person. That person made $350,000 last year to infrequently write stories that generated little meaningful viewership or revenue.” On Twitter, Wahl responded that he was "willing to take a temporary pay cut, his base salary was less than what Heckman cited (though he did receive a bonus), and that he writes frequently." Strauss wrote the tone of Heckman’s email "left an already gutted newsroom stunned." Sources said that in a call last week with SI and Maven execs Wahl indicated that he would take a 30% pay cut "during the pandemic but balked at a permanent salary reduction" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/11). In N.Y., Keith Kelly noted Wahl had been "blasting management for the cuts in a series of Instagram posts" (N.Y. POST, 4/11).
NOT A GOOD LOOK: In the email to employees, Heckman said that Wahl "lacked Maven’s team spirit." THE RINGER's Bryan Curtis wrote this was a "true numbskull move," but it "wasn’t the first of Maven’s coronavirus follies." Faced with a global crisis and a mass cancellation of games, Heckman’s "initial instinct was to deny that Sports Illustrated would suffer damage." But the company has been "soaked in accidental comedy since they took over Sports Illustrated." Curtis: "There’s one only move left. It’s not much when journalists have lost jobs, but it’s something. The Maven guys want to be known as cold-eyed mavericks. The last six months have shown that as craven as they are, they will always be more buffoonish" (THERINGER.com, 4/11).
