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Jeffrey Toobin fired for masturbating on Zoom call, Internet slams supporters defending him ‘jerking off on camera’

One said, 'It’s not exactly cancel culture. If you are caught jacking off at work, you will be fired, I don’t care where you work'

The New Yorker writer and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who was suspended by the magazine for reportedly exposing himself during a Zoom call with colleagues and radio station, has now been fired. Toobin is trending on Twitter yet again, as he publicly tweeted about getting sacked by New Yorker after serving for about three decades. 

Toobin issued an apology, saying he genuinely thought he had turned the camera off when the incident occurred on October 15. Reportedly, his colleagues saw him masturbating on camera during a break on a Zoom video call. In a statement he said, “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers. I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video."

An investigation was conducted by The New Yorker after his suspension, while CNN had confirmed that he was taking some time off to deal with a “personal issue”. 

Stan Duncan, the chief people officer of The New Yorker’s parent company Conde Nast distributed a memo to the staff that read, “I want to assure everyone that we take workplace matters seriously. We are committed to fostering an environment where everyone feels respected and upholds our standards of conduct.”

However, people’s opinion on social media is contradicting that of Duncan’s, as many have opined that masturbation or the act of touching yourself isn’t a crime and Toobin doesn’t deserve to be fired as he didn’t expose himself deliberately.

Tweets defending Toobin came out in large numbers, asking the network and magazine to forgive him over the accident. One tweeted, "Look I don’t wish to argue however from reporting he didn’t realize zoom was still on, he seems like a good man with a phenomenal legal mind. I was pulling out my mom card, ya be nice or else " Another added, "I’m sorry Jeff. We all mess up. Go easy on yourself. I’ve learned so much from reading your work. It’s a great loss for the New Yorker." One Internet user wrote, "I can’t stand Jeff Toobin but why should he be fired? Jerking off is as natural as picking your nose. Perhaps the real issue is America’s puritanical view towards nudity & sex. This would likely be a non-issue in Europe as they don’t have a prudish mindset towards the human body." 

However, the rest have agreed with the magazine's decision to fire Toobin over sexual misconduct saying such a horrific act isn't acceptable. 

One wrote, "Nobody should have a job after what you did" another added, "I’ve not heard of this common problem of masturbating on a work call. Let’s not normalize this behavior. I hope he gets some help as to what causes a man to lose boundaries for appropriate behavior. That’s a big problem in the world. People don’t have common sense." One said, "It’s not exactly cancel culture. If you are caught jacking off at work, you will be fired, I don’t care where you work." Meanwhile one said, "How the hell can you defend jerking off on camera, during business hours, IN A MEETING?? What other abusive, toxic things are you excusing?"