What’s that ancient workplace proverb? ‘Don’t fuck with the intern/s because thee shall live to regret it?’. Something like that.
US mag ‘Paper’ – which gave us Kim Kardashian‘s oiled ass-balancing cover shoot – has given one of its fashion editors the boot after he was caught berating an intern to a bunch of big-name designers ahead of New York Fashion Week.
Contributing fashion editor Paul-Simon Djite trash-talked college intern Keirra Webster via email after she apparently made the very grave error of attempting to sweet talk her way into shows by saying she was a blogger and Djite’s assistant (she isn’t).
When Djite. found out she was using his name as leverage, he went all Miranda Priestly on her ass and sent a mass email to designers with the alleged subject line “Intern trying to bullshit her way into shows.”
Here’s an extract:
“It’s been brought to my attention that Keirra Webster… has been trying to rsvp for shows claiming she is my assistant. JUST FYI — KEIRRA DOES NOT WORK FOR ME!! […She is] an intern at PAPER, a real shit one, and the audacity of this stunt must show you just how switched off the light in her head is. Please note, she is not worthy of your time… burn and dump the corpse of her communications in internet landfill.”
It gets even more savage.
“Such blatant stupidity … who birthed you Keirra? They need to put you back in. You silly twat. Quit your fucking around.”
While Webster’s attempts to use the magazine’s title to her advantage *were* sneaky, nothing warrants that level of abuse – especially when it’s directed to a likely unpaid, non-employee.
On finding out, Paper head honcho Kim Hastreiter emailed the recipients of the initial email informing them Djite has since been let go and that Webster’s internship with the magazine is still active.
“We retract every portion of [Djite’s] e-mail,” she wrote. “It was sent without authorization…it contains many comments which were totally unjustified and inappropriate.”
For her part, Webster is sorry for grandstanding.
“I wasn’t per se working so closely with him. It was my mistake to use that wording,” she told Page Six. “I made a mistake .?.?. and accept that responsibility.”
You live and you learn, which is what internships are all about.
Source: Page Six.
Photo: The Devil Wears Prada.
