With all of the recent controversy surrounding The Maneater’s April Fools’ edition, we started thinking about what place the prankster holiday’s place has in student journalism, if any. While some publications can successfully pull off this annual edition, others get themselves into a whole lot of trouble.
The two former top editors at The Maneater could possibly face expulsion from the University of Missouri for the paper’s offensive April Fools’ Edition.
According to the Missourian, the two former editors have been notified they must set up hearings with MU’s Office of Student Conduct for their roles in producing the April Fools’ Edition.
The managing editor of The Maneater officially resigned from the paper today, the latest fallout from the paper’s decision to publish an April Fools’ Edition gone awry.
Managing Editor Abby Spudich published her letter of resignation on The Maneater‘s website this afternoon, shortly after J-School Buzz broke the news of her decision to step down on our Twitter feed.
Maneater editor apologizes for April 1 issue, didn’t know “carpet eater” is derogatory term for lesbians. bit.ly/I2ay74
— Romenesko (@romenesko) April 6, 2012
The April Fools’ Edition of The Maneater (a.k.a The Carpeteater) got a huge reaction on the internet this past week. Once we published our story on Friday, Jim Romenesko, College Media Matters and SPLC linked back to our story discussing the issue and the apology letter, as well as Kathy Rudd’s letter in protest of The Carpeteater.
But the reactions didn’t stop there. We also saw lots of people post on Twitter and Facebook about the April Fools’ newspaper, and here were some of the responses. Continue reading
The Maneater’s April Fools’ issue, so cleverly nicknamed The Carpeteater (get it?), has sparked another huge backlash against the paper on Mizzou’s campus. This comes on the heels of a recent issue in which The Maneater offended Mizzou’s LGBTQ community with columns based on slut-shaming and gay stereotypes.
The April Fools’ Edition has even inspired a letter by senior Kathy Rudd that has been going around Facebook to petition The Carpeteater (seriously, who approved that name?) to demand an apology.
The Maneater’s MOVE Magazine recently published a column titled “Grindr lovin’ had me aghast,” and it is getting a LOT of negative attention. It’s practically gone viral and the column’s comments section is full of hate. Why, you ask? Because this column is just a cesspool of gay stereotypes and slut-shaming.