Jeffrey Toobin: When In Doubt Whip It Out!!

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people who can do so are working from home. People keep in touch with co-workers via Zoom or Web-ex meetings, instant messaging, emails, conference calls, and the like. 

Working from home means that you learn a little more about your co-workers' personal lives and quirks. Perhaps you hear or see their children or grandchildren in the background. Maybe you find out what sorts of books or music they enjoy. 

Maybe you find out that your co-worker's relationship with their spouse or significant other is much different than you thought. Maybe you see someone without makeup or with uncombed hair. Maybe a co-worker is less productive because their peers or supervisor can no longer just walk into their office or cubicle to get a hands on update on their status.

Speaking of hands on, however lawyer, blogger, New Yorker magazine contributor and CNN analyst Jeffery Toobin apparently forgot that there are some activities that shouldn't be shared with anyone else other than perhaps an intimate. 

The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin for masturbating on a Zoom video chat between members of the New Yorker and WNYC radio last week. Toobin says he did not realize his video was on. “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” Toobin told Motherboard.

“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,” he added.
Two people who were on the call told VICE separately that the call was an election simulation featuring many of the New Yorker's biggest stars: Jane Mayer was playing establishment Republicans; Evan Osnos was Joe Biden, Jelani Cobb was establishment Democrats, Masha Gessen played Donald Trump, Andrew Marantz was the far right, Sue Halpern was left wing democrats, Dexter Filkins was the military, and Jeffrey Toobin playing the courts. 

Both people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, noted that it was unclear how much each person saw, but both said that they saw Toobin ********. The two sources described a juncture in the election simulation when there was a strategy session, and the Democrats and Republicans went into their respective break out rooms for about 10 minutes. At this point, they said, it seemed like Toobin was on a second video call. 

The sources said that when the groups returned from their break out rooms, Toobin lowered the camera. The people on the call said they could see Toobin touching his penis. Toobin then left the call. Moments later, he called back in, seemingly unaware of what his colleagues had been able to see, and the simulation continued. STORY 

Toobin was suspended from the New Yorker and was given a leave of absence from CNN. I don't think Toobin should be back at either place but then again I thought that Marv Albert's broadcasting career was over when he was accused of sexual assault, biting his then girlfriend, and of asking her to bring not another woman, but another man into their funky love thang. Albert pled down to misdemeanor assault and was fired by NBC only to be rehired by NBC not even two years later. So who knows? There are people defending Toobin already. I guess if you have the right complexion and connections you can get a little bit more protection. 

Just as I can't watch Albert without going ugh, I can't imagine tuning in to see what Toobin thinks on anything. Maybe he can get a Johnson's Baby Oil endorsement? All kidding aside, work is work and what Toobin was doing was not what he was being paid to do--as far as I know. Maybe he has a contract which allows that. If Toobin can't get through a work day without doing that perhaps he should find someone willing to pay him for it. It's amazing that during #metoo and #timesup and the like, someone needs to be told not to do that in a work environment. Can you imagine being Toobin's next boss? You'd have to ask him if he sees anyone in the office who he thinks might set him off.