Jeffrey Toobin Suspended by New Yorker After Exposing Himself on Zoom

We’ve all accidentally left ourselves on mute during a Zoom meeting before, but this is, uh, a bit more extreme. Vice reports that the New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin after he exposed himself on a Zoom call last week between members of the publication and WNYC radio that’s being referred to as the “Zoom Dick Incident.”

Toobin insists it was an accident, claiming he thought his camera was turned off (though he offered no explanation for why his dick would be out during a work call in the first place).

“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera,” he said in a statement to Vice. “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.”

Toobin’s Conde Nast email has been disabled, and he has not tweeted since Oct. 13. New Yorker spokesperson Natalie Raabe confirmed he has been suspended, saying, “Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter.”

He did, however, appear on CNN, where he is the network’s chief legal analyst, as recently as Saturday. The network told Vice that Toobin has been granted leave. “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” CNN said in a statement.

Update, 7:01 p.m.: It turns out he didn’t just expose himself. Vice has updated its report to include the fact that Toobin was allegedly masturbating during the Zoom meeting, which was an election simulation featuring Jane Mayer, Evan Osnos and Jelani Cobb, along with producers from the magazine and WNYC radio. Two people on the call said that “at one point, it looked as if Toobin was taking another call and lowered his camera — and that’s when they saw him touching his penis.” Yikes.