Dead On Arrival: The Predictable Fall of Deadspin and How We’re All Better Off Without It

Kyle O’Connor
Nov 4 · 4 min read

Several days ago, the infamous sports blog, Deadspin, faced a mass-exodus when its ownership group told the editorial staff to “stick to sports” in a leaked memo. What started as an internal fight between Jim Spanfeller, CEO of the G/O Media Group, and Deadspin employees over the use of intrusive page advertisements has now turned into an all-out war over their recent political posts and other questionable non-sports coverage. As of Friday, every single writer and editor quit from their roles at the company.

Deadspin was always known as a troublemaker in the blog world. Once owned by Gawker Media, the now-shamed website founded by Nick Denton, Deadspin prides itself on an unfiltered approach to journalism. In fact, calling it journalism is probably a stretch in a lot of cases. Deadspin made its mark by mocking and hurling insults at everyone it could lay its hands on. But not only was it effective at connecting with its demographic through massive amounts of negative coverage, the staff openly celebrated its crude take-no-prisoner slant in the industry.

As shown in its rebellion against the “corporate suits” who took over the blog, Deadspin always loved fighting against elites. It’s what made their downfall so ironic. Their writers loved to challenge the mainstream media and, in particular, ESPN for offering biased coverage based on their lucrative league TV deals. When Deadspin wrote about sports news, they didn’t do it from a press box. They found joy in doing it from their couch — as if there is something rewarding about not being able to face the athletes, broadcasters, and real journalists in-person who they skewered the night before.

But there’s a difference between producing content that is unfiltered or laughably unprofessional and content that is harmful to others. This is where Deadspin crossed the line one too many times. Often times when Deadspin posted, somebody else ended up hurt. And when somebody else gets hurt, families suffer and people are impacted in this age of such mental health trauma.

This is the blog that reported Michael Vick (in pre-dogfighting years) used a pseudonym to receive herpes treatment to hide his private medical condition from the public. This is the blog that tried to embarrass ESPN stars like Scott Van Pelt and the late great Stuart Scott by interfering in their private lives. This is the blog that exposed Brett Favre’s racy private photos and texts between him and an NFL cheerleader. This is the blog that promoted staff members who made offensive remarks towards abused women, people struggling with their weight, and the LGBTQ community. The list goes on…

And it’s no surprise that Deadspin imploded in the way that it did. In the summer of 2016, Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over losing a landmark court case to Terry Bollea (also known as Hulk Hogan) when they published his illegally recorded sex tape. For the record, the tape was even turned down by TMZ who felt that it would be in poor taste to spread such a salacious video. The verdict awarded Hogan $140 million and served as a final devastating blow to Denton and his trolls.

The quirky billionaire and PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel, was behind the lawsuit as a shadowy figure who secretly financed the case against Gawker. Thiel, still seeking vengeance for a 2007 Gawker post outing him as gay, found the perfect way to put an end to Denton’s cyber bullying empire. While Deadspin may not have done anything to break the law, the powers at be knew how to put them in their rightful place. Spanfeller, a media executive who ran Forbes.com from 2001–2009, possibly knew that he had to take over the blog in order to rid it of its cancerous foundation.

Spanfeller has received a lot of unflattering press over the past few days, some of which has been at the hands of media outlets who have adopted a Gawker-like model. But I applaud Spanfeller for destroying his own company in order to start fresh. It’s hard to believe that a site dedicated to sports news would undergo a staff revolt when reminded that they’re paid to follow through with that exact mission. Maybe the reaction to G/O Media’s “stick to sports” memo was unintentional, but the world will be better off because of it.

Deadspin as we once knew it is officially dead. Hopefully, G/O Media can find a group of writers and editors who will have some professionalism and journalistic integrity to save the brand. In the meantime, Nick Denton is rumored to be spending time in Zurich working on a new messaging app that will unsurprisingly publish people’s private conversations publicly.

This all reminds me of a proverb derived from the Bible: “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” Just like Gawker, Deadspin had its time in the sun as a go-to website for snarky content surrounding the sports world, pop culture, and news. But, from the start, the blog was a breeding ground for spreading malicious, deeply personal, and downright vulgar content on the Internet. It felt like Deadspin hated just about everything it covered and their toxic death is fitting for the way that they lived. Let this serve as an example for the next Deadspin that comes begging for our attention…you will ultimately go down in flames as well.

Kyle O’Connor
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