New Yorker reporter Jeffrey Toobin suspended for exposing himself on Zoom call

‘I apologise to my wife, family, friends and co-workers’

Moderator Jeffrey Toobin, writer, The New Yorker attends the 2016 “Tina Brown Live Media’s American Justice Summit” at Gerald W. Lynch Theatre on 29 January 2016 in New York City ((Getty Images))

The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin after he exposed himself during a Zoom meeting last week.

Mr Toobin, 60, exposed himself during a video call last week with employees from WNYC radio and his colleagues at The New Yorker, according to Vice.

In a statement to Motherboard, Vice’s online magazine for technology and science, Mr Toobin apologised and claimed that he thought he had turned his camera off at the time of the incident.

“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologise to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” he said.

“I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video."

The New Yorker spokesperson Natalie Raabe said: “Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter.”

Vice reported that Mr Toobin’s email address at Conde Nast, The New Yorker’s publisher, has been disabled, while the reporter has not tweeted since 13 October.

Mr Toobin also works as the chief legal analyst at CNN, and appeared on the station on Saturday.

However, on Monday CNN told Vice in an emailed statement: “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.”

Mr Toobin, who is one of the US’s best known legal journalists, regularly covers the US Supreme Court for both The New Yorker and CNN.

He also covered the OJ Simpson trial, Michael Jackson’s molestation trial in 2005 and the Starr investigation of Bill Clinton.