BuzzFeed and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio engaged in a war of words on Thursday, one day after the news outlet’s executives bailed on a negotiating meeting with a still-unrecognized employee union.
“Memo to @BuzzFeedNews: New York City is a union town. You didn’t just snub @bfnewsunion yesterday, you insulted all working New Yorkers,” de Blasio wrote on Thursday afternoon, reacting to the BuzzFeed union tweeting the day prior that “We came to the table today ready to meet with BuzzFeed execs about finally recognizing our union. Five minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start, they told us they weren’t going to show up.” The mayor added in his tweet: “To the union: This city stands with you. To the management: Come. To. The. Table.”
BuzzFeed fired back at the mayor in a statement obtained by The Daily Beast: “This process is not going to benefit from the involvement of a deeply unpopular mayor who has expressed an open disdain for journalists during his time in office.” —Maxwell Tani
