Longtime sports-blogging juggernaut Deadspin came to an abrupt end last October, when the entire staff resigned in protest after parent company G/O Media fired deputy editor Barry Petchesky for not sticking to sports.
Well, a revamped Deadspin officially resumed publishing less than two weeks ago, featuring new writers to work under new editor-in-chief, Jim Rich. It’s been a controversial revival, and the operation feels quite a bit different than the original Deadspin.
And a tweet from the Deadspin account on Monday night is getting ratio’d hard (at the time of this post: 467 replies, 2 tweets, 41 likes).
Sport our logo tee to the game, to the courts, to the gym – the supersoft cotton is ultra-light & breathable. https://t.co/nfZe7d0RvR
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) March 23, 2020
“Sport our logo tee to the game, to the courts, to the gym- the supersoft cotton is ultra-light & breathable.”
Even if we put aside the controversy surrounding Deadspin, the timing of this tweet is rough. There are no sporting events to attend during this COVID-19 outbreak. The “courts” and “gym” are closed seemingly everywhere (as they should be).
But when you also factor in how Deadspin is viewed following the events from last October, and with how much the revival has been scrutinized and mocked, the tweet looks particularly bad (and even if we ignore the optics of the tweet- who the heck would buy and wear a Deadspin t-shirt these days?).
Naturally, Twitter has been all over this one:
https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1242240531243163655
you could put little leaguers in charge of Deadspin and they would be doing a better job https://t.co/G5SCEk5GTx
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 24, 2020
Deadspin remains dead, Jim. Selling t-shirts to make a profit off the body is low even for you. https://t.co/ipBggh7G5q
— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) March 24, 2020
We are supposed to be staying at home you guys.
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) March 23, 2020
which game
— actioncookbook (@actioncookbook) March 24, 2020
— Zoo With Roy (@zoowithroy) March 24, 2020
Or at home on the couch because no one can go do any of those things you listed
— The Hamburglar (@The_Hamburglar2) March 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/joliekerr/status/1242243241627586565
https://twitter.com/AmyMarxkors/status/1242251902374621184
https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1242246476866166784
I was really ready to give new Deadspin an honest chance.
That didn’t last long.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) March 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/1242248385765269504
