Cybersecurity reporter Eric Geller is no longer with Politico after more than six years with the political news outlet. His sudden departure came after sparking controversy with a since-deleted tweet about the late Pope Benedict XVI.
“Homophobic pedophile protector and Hitler Youth alumnus dead at 95,” Geller tweeted on December 31, sharing a story about the former pontiff’s death.
Hours after posting the inflammatory tweet, Geller took it down and offered an apology. “I deleted the tweet about Pope Benedict that was offensive and in poor judgment,” the reporter posted to Twitter.
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Days later, however, Geller changed his Twitter bio to remove any reference to Politico, Fox News reported on Tuesday. Additionally, on his personal website, he now refers to his time at Politico in the past tense.
“I’m a journalist focused on cybersecurity and technology,” Geller wrote on his site. “Most recently, I spent six and a half years covering cybersecurity for Politico, where I mostly wrote about how the government protects U.S. computer networks from hackers.”
A source familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that Geller is indeed no longer with Politico.
Following Geller’s controversial remarks on New Year's Eve, Politico spokesperson Brad Dayspring tweeted that Geller’s post was a “clear violation of our social media policy and was both inaccurate and offensive.” He added at the time that company policy violations “are subject to an internal review process” that could result “in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.”
When asked on Tuesday whether Geller was fired, Dayspring told The Daily Beast that “as a matter of policy we do not comment on personnel or disciplinary matters, and have no additional comment beyond what was stated about the substance of the tweet at the time.” Geller did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Benedict, who was pope from 2005 to 2013, was a member of the Hitler Youth at age 14 while growing up in Nazi Germany. (It was a requirement at the time.) Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, he was later drafted by the German army at 21.
Additionally, Benedict was the first pope in centuries to resign, leaving in 2013 as the Catholic Church was mired in scandals related to priests sexually abusing young boys. And while Benedict was a hardline conservative focused on rooting out corruption and abuse, he not only foundered as a reformer but found himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit over the church’s sexual abuse.
Geller isn’t the only journalist who found himself in hot water for sharing his unvarnished thoughts about Pope Benedict. Back in 2014, British Catholic magazine The Tablet suspended its Rome correspondent Robert Mickens for referring to Benedict as “the Rat” and looking forward to his death.
