[Updated] Gawker and Porn Model Brodie Sinclair Out a High Profile John, Then Gawker Apologizes, Takes Post Down

In a mini-scandal that’s kind of like Jarec Wentworth lite, porn model Brodie Sinclair decided to out a well known but seemingly closeted New York media exec who tried to hire him, and Gawker went along with it for reasons of cheap tabloid fodder. This wasn’t a two-faced homophobe. This wasn’t a hate-spouting preacher on Grindr. But that didn’t stop Gawker. The fact they ran the story with such glee is just one of the fucked up things about this.

The escort figured out the john was David Geithner, the married (with kids) CFO of Condé Nast and brother of ex-Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He went to Gawker all because Geithner didn’t respond adequately to his request Geinther use his his Obama connections for help with a housing discrimination lawsuit. The readers at Str8UpGayPorn figured out the unnamed escort was Brodie Sinclair, via headless body shots.

brodie-gawk

Gawker journalist Natasha “I wrote a book and it’s pretty smart!” Vargas-Cooper made makes the publication’s stance on such things crystal clear …

And so did many others who deserve have their professions listed as journalists without the quotes.

 

 
Even a senior writer at Gawker objected:

As the NYTimes points out, Gawker, run by out gay man Nick Denton, has a penchant for outing people. Their pursuit of the sexuality of Fox new’s anchor Shepard Smith was to”derive from the contextual equation — Fox News + gay = hypocrisy.”

gawker staff

Gawker also went on a virtual crusade to force CNN’s Anderson Cooper to declare his sexuality – until he scooped them by coming out in his email to Andrew Sullivan.

This wasn’t some puff piece about a ‘Hooker with a heart of gold,’ this ruined the life of someone who was the brother of someone formerly associated with the Obama administration – none of which were our enemies – for the hits and clicks such lurid stories garner.

This is about a hooker who decided getting 1000’s of dollars for services wasn’t enough and decided to shakedown their john for more.

Where have we heard this before? Ahem, Jarec Wentworth. But at least Jarec was indeed a bonafide pornstar. Brodie is a retired B-lister still turning tricks. While I am sure fellow boys-for-rent aren’t pleased he broke rule number 1 (never expose your clients), like Jarec, in the end, he did not get what he was after. We know Gawker wanted hits to their site – but what about Brodie?

Brodie may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was able to figure out Geithner’s identity after he stupidly sent Brodie his “deposit” with the Geithner family address as the smoking gun in addition to dropping a few tidbits about being a CFO and some phone number tracing. That’s when Brodie upped the stakes: He wanted Geithner to use his connections to help him with a closed housing dispute case. Brodie claimed he discriminated about his sexuality and being a gay porn star. The truth was, he was expelled from the building for violating their pet policy. Brodie wasn’t having it. That’s when he reached out to his elected official: Senator Ted Cruz.

He appealed to Cruz as a veteran with PTSD being treated unfairly – a cause the Senator loves to use to make headlines. As reported in Gawker, “He says that an employee of Cruz’s called him this afternoon to say that the senator had personally called the HUD director on his behalf. It seems as if Cruz, in the midst of his Presidential campaign, sees an opportunity to help a veteran.”

Now, as of Friday afternoon, almost 24 hours after posting the story with the damage already done (and with Geithner, naturally, denying it all), Denton made the decision to remove the post from Gawker.

He writes:

Yesterday evening, Gawker.com published a story about the CFO of Conde Nast texting an escort. It was an editorial call, a close call around which there were more internal disagreements than usual. And it is a decision I regret.

The story involves extortion, illegality and reckless behavior, sufficient justification at least in tabloid news terms. The account was true and well-reported. It concerns a senior business executive at one of the most powerful media companies on the planet.

In the early days of the internet, that would have been enough. “We put truths on the internet.” That has been the longstanding position of Gawker journalists, some of the most uncompromising and uncompromised on the internet. I cannot blame our editors and writers for pursuing that original mission.

But the media environment has changed, our readers have changed, and I have changed. Not only is criticism of yesterday’s piece from readers intense, but much of what they’ve said has resonated. Some of our own writers, proud to work at one of the only independent media companies, are equally appalled.

I believe this public mood reflects a growing recognition that we all have secrets, and they are not all equally worthy of exposure. I can’t defend yesterday’s story as I can our coverage of Bill O’Reilly, Hillary Clinton or Hulk Hogan.

So, despite Denton’s come-to-Jesus moment, the only person to do the right thing here was not only the one straight men in this mess, but one of the biggest homophobes of them all. Brodie appealed to him as a wronged veteran. Had he even revealed only the truth about his sexuality, Cruz would have delighted in seeing a pervert exiled for his evil ways. If he knew he not just a gay man, but a former gay porn star presently working as a rent boy, Cruz might have actually shot a load of righteous indignation right in his own ill fitting Senatorial pants.

Anyway, just to take us back to when he did porn, here’s Brodie in a 2011 scene for Dominic Ford where he fucked Diego Vena.

 

Update: Now Gawker Media’s executive editor and the editor of the Gawker site have both quit over the whole mess, claiming that the decision to pull down the post by Denton and his business partners was an unprecedented breach of their editorial integrity. You can read all the long, drawn-out emails over the drama here. Suffice it to say, the editors stood behind the decision to post the story, despite it possibly ruining an innocent, closeted man’s life, because the sex lives of media types has always been their bread and butter, which is true.

 

13 thoughts on “[Updated] Gawker and Porn Model Brodie Sinclair Out a High Profile John, Then Gawker Apologizes, Takes Post Down”

  1. First Rule of Hooking—“NEVER out a client or potential client”…..Addendum to First Rule–“Never be a little bitch like Austin Wolf and put clients or possible clients personal information on Twitter blast for missed appointment…suck it up & drive on”….

  2. If we’ve learned anything it’s that “these hoes ain’t loyal”. Why would any sane rational person trust a sex worker with their anonymity. They sell their bodies to make quick money, so you don’t think they might sell you out for a few extra bucks?

  3. Nick Denton of Gawker is a trash “journalist”. He should be profoundly ashamed of much of what he does. In this case he used David Truitt, AKA Brodie Sinclar to out a man. Had Gawker taken the time to check out Truitt’s FB entries, they would have seen that “Brodie” is a guy with profound psychological problems. This is a troubled individual who sees biblical proof that Obama and Putin are agents of the Devil. His rants are so disturbing that I hope that The Secret Service has him on their watch list.

  4. discriminated against his sexuality…since when was Brodie not straight? I mean you could tell he hated being in gay porn. He makes Cody Cumming and Mark Dalton seem enthusiastic.

    1. Pretty good tabloid story beginning with a gay/bi CFO4GAY cheating on his WIFE! Why is this different from the rest? It isn’t.

      1. A) Outing people who are doing no harm to any other gay people is wrong. Everyone deserves to come out in their own time and on their own terms.

        B) He DIDN’T cheat on his wife! He made plans to meet Sinclair, but never actually went through with it or met him. He never had sex with him. He refused to use or abuse any power or connections he might have. And for that, he deserved to be outed? For all we know, this was a fantasy he had that he never actually fulfilled, and may never have. And for doing NOTHING, his life is ruined.

        Awful.

        1. A) “Everyone deserves to come out in their own time and on their own terms.” unless he is homophobe is what you’re saying. Sorry but it has to go both ways.

          B) How do we know it was not his first time. When the story come out he tried to use his connections to cover the story.

          1. A) I disagree. There’s no reason to out people who aren’t homophobes or actively working against other gays. It’s the Barney Frank Rule:

            The Barney Frank rule of outing gay politicians as he explained it on Bill Maher:

            “I think there’s a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. People who want to demonize other people shouldn’t then be able to go home and close the door, and do it themselves.”

            This is someone who seemingly has never done, said or acted against gay people. Why is it anyone else’s business (except his wife’s) what he may be into?

            B) Where’s the proof that it wasn’t his first time? I’m not saying it was, only that there’s no proof that it wasn’t. And nothing in the texts would seem to indicate this is someone whose adept at cheating. He displays a startling amount of naivete, and doesn’t know how to create a fake email account, or have one already set up (and when he finally does, he uses his real name in it???). Maybe he really is just an idiot. But the texts would seem to indicate that he doesn’t do this a lot, if ever, certainly more so than they prove the opposite.

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