Andrew Sullivan to leave New York Magazine

Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan announced his departure from New York Magazine on Tuesday, citing a “self-evident” distance between himself and the magazine’s editorial bent.

In a series of tweets, the writer said that he was “immensely grateful” to the editors at the magazine and said that he had “no beef” with the outlet’s other writers, many of whom are left of center.

“The underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident, and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this Friday,” he added. “I’ve been preparing for this eventuality, and the column will continue elsewhere. See you on Friday, when I’ll detail some exciting news.”

I’m sad because the editors I worked with there are among the finest in the country, and I am immensely grateful to them for vastly improving my work.

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) July 14, 2020

The underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident, and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this Friday.

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) July 14, 2020

In a memo to employees, New York Magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell characterized the split as a “mutual” agreement.

“Andrew and I agreed that his editorial project and the magazine’s, though overlapping in many ways, were no longer the right match for each other,” Haskell said, according to CNN Business.

Sullivan rose to prominence when serving as an editor at the left-leaning New Republic. He later founded the political blog The Daily Dish, published by outlets including Time and The Atlantic. It went independent in 2013.

The writer faced criticism while at The New Republic for publishing excerpts from “The Bell Curve,” a book that argued that there are inherent IQ differences between racial groups explained in part by genetics. Sullivan continued to write on the topic while at New York Magazine.

In recent weeks he also apologized after retweeting a message that incorrectly stated that a former Washington Post reporter had been “fired” by the newspaper.

Thank you. I missed yr first tweet so apologies for the late response. I’m not sure why I retweeted that but I absolutely shouldn’t have – maybe the heat of the Twitter moment – and I’m really sorry about it. Not cool at all. I’ve deleted it. Just want to say sorry again.

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) June 10, 2020