BuzzFeed has informed the Republican National Committee that it’s terminating a pre-existing ad buy worth $1.3 million because the company’s CEO Jonah Peretti feels morally opposed to running Donald Trump presidential advertisements on his website, the news and listicle website reports.
“The tone and substance of his campaign are unique in the history of modern U.S. politics,” Peretti explained in an email to employees this morning. “The tone and substance of his campaign are unique in the history of modern US politics. Trump advocates banning Muslims from traveling to the United States, he’s threatened to limit the free press, and made offensive statements toward women, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, and foreign nationals. … [H]is proposed ban on international travel for Muslims would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.”
Editor-in-chief Ben Smith made it clear in a follow-up email that this decision would not affect coverage of Trump’s campaign or the electoral season. “This was Jonah’s call, and the prerogative of a publisher,” he wrote.
RNC senior strategist Sean Spicer claims that his party doesn’t want BuzzFeed readers’ eyeballs anyway. “Space was reserved on many platforms, but we never intended to use BuzzFeed,” Spicer told CNN before seizing upon an opportunity make a stab at likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “It is ironic that they have not ruled out taking money from a candidate currently under investigation by the FBI.”
As of press time, Donald Trump himself has not yet authored a bilious tweet on the matter.