Fired Media Matters Staffer Alleges Cover Up Of ‘Predator’ at Company, Gets Slapped with Lawsuit Threat
A former senior writer at progressive watchdog Media Matters for America accused the company of covering up for a “predator” on staff.
“After about 10 years, I no longer work at Media Matters,” Tim Johnson wrote on Twitter Monday.
He went on to claim there was a “predator” at the company whose alleged misdeeds were covered up for years before they were ousted. Johnson named MMFA editorial director Ben Dimiero as someone who allegedly covered up for the predator, who he did not identify.
“Ben: Do you want to talk about how you covered up for a man who preyed on our colleagues?” Johnson wrote, tagging Dimiero.
Johnson said the man accused of misconduct suddenly resigned, but was allowed to come into the office afterwards.
“Not too long later, I learned the truth of why he ‘resigned,'” Johnson wrote. “He was dismissed because of his sexual misconduct. But only after years of people in authority positions knowing about what he was doing.”
Johnson alleged that the man came into the office multiple times after his resignation, and that he ran into him once after and refused to reciprocate a friendly hello.
“I hope (I am no stranger to beating the fuck out of a predator) that I put the fear of god into him. The smirk on his face didn’t last long. I heard he didn’t come back to the office after that. I never saw him again, I hope he never did come by again,” Johnson wrote.
According to a source familiar with the situation, a Media Matters employee was fired in 2015 hours after a sexual misconduct report was filed.
The Daily Beast also reported on Tuesday that Media Matters president Angelo Carusone addressed the controversy in the outlet’s Slack, telling employees Johnson is referring to a seven-year-old incident where an employee was accused of sexual harassment and soon let go from the company.
According to Daily Beast, Carusone also noted that Dimiero was only a junior staffer at the time this all occurred, and had no management role at the company.
Hours after Johnson posted the thread, he shared a legal threat he received from lawyers representing MMFA. They accused Johnson of violating his severance agreement by speaking out against the company. They demanded Johnson remove his Twitter thread, and face a lawsuit if he refused.
Johnson refused, and demanded in a tweet that Media Matters “retract false claims about me.”
For the people at @mmfa involved in this and the attorneys representing them, here is my proposal to settle this matter: Retract the false claims about me. And do not ever contact me again. That’s it. https://t.co/s8lW1xLaJo
— Tim Johnson (@timberwjohnson) June 7, 2022
Johnson and Media Matters did not respond to Mediaite’s requests for comment.
