It’s been an off day for Esquire’s Twitter feed. The magazine has found itself facing an online backlash for a pair of questionable tweets linking to similarly questionable articles, both capitalizing on grim recent events.
Earlier today, the magazine’s style blog sent out the tweet, “Meet the stylish man who inspired Amy Winehouse,” linking to an article about Winehouse’s abusive ex-husband, titled “In Tragedy, a Style Appreciation for Blake Fielder-Civil.” A bit early to be dissecting the sartorial choices of the dead singer’s abusive husband, no? The article’s content doesn’t help its case, either.
Writer Kurt Soller argues that it’s a good thing that Fielder-Civil is in jail—not because he was found guilty of burglary and firearm possession, but because the media won’t be able to bother him there.
A short while later, someone at Esquire had the even poorer judgment (we know, right?) to send out yet another classy tweet, this time referencing Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s alleged rape of a hotel maid—all in good fun, of course! “How to get a better blowjob than #DSK—we think,” said the tweet, linking to an article on “How to Receive a Blowjob.”
Upon discovering that most people do not, in fact, find forced oral sex to be especially amusing, Esquire deleted the tweet and wrote, “Sometimes our sense of humor doesn't come out the way we intend. Sorry if an earlier tweet offended anyone.” We’d love to know what exactly they did intend.
