The editor of the UK’s influential Gay Times has been suspended after old tweets resurfaced in which he mocked Jews, Asians and transgender people.
Josh Rivers (main photo), who’d been in the editor’s chair for only two weeks, has had his social media past come back to bite him after his previous posts were revealed to include racism and mocking people with disabilities.
Gay Times’ bosses have immediately suspended Rivers and said “appropriate action will be taken in due course”.
In a statement released yesterday, Gay Times said Rivers’s “past tweets do not align with the values of Gay Times, or any of our employees, in any capacity”.
Rivers has revealed that many of the tweets are five years old and he has since undergone anger management therapy.
One tweet read: “Was so close to casually asking this chav to keep her incested, down syndrome, retard children quiet. But I just switched carriages. #xmas”.
And another: “The creepiest gay men are short, old Asian men with long nails. Fact.”
One antisemitic tweet read: “I wonder if they cast that guy as ‘The Jew’ because of that fucking ridiculously large honker of a nose. It must be prosthetic. Must be.”
And in another, he said: “Jews are gross. It’s the only religion with ‘ew’ in it.’ Family Guy genius before the festivities begin.”
Mocking a transgender person, Rivers wrote: “Look here, tranny. 1) you look like a crackhead 2) YOU’RE A TRANNY & 3) your wig doesn’t deserve a mention. Avert your eyes, honey.”
While another time he attacked young gay men: “I’m amused at the twinks that call themselves ‘straight-acting’. Honey, I can imagine a tampon hanging out your shorts just from your photo.”
While a tweet from January 2011 read: “Look, Josh. A fat girl eating a carrot. It must be January.”
Following the public airing of his old social media posts, Rivers posted an apology that read: “To every single person who is hurt, offended and disappointed: I’m sorry. The tweets are horrible. They are abhorrent. They are ugly. They are so hateful.
“These tweets from my past show a deep self-loathing that I’ve worked hard to overcome. I have long taken steps to address the issues that prevented me from treating people with the respect and kindness I value so dearly now.
“I hope we can use this as an opportunity for growth, for healing, for moving forward.”
