The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced Saturday it pulled out of a climate forum hosted by The New Republic after the outlet posted an offensive piece about White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegBillionaire who donated to Trump in 2016 donates to Biden The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - GOP closes ranks to fill SCOTUS vacancy by November Buttigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice MORE.

“The offensive piece by this author, and the choice to run it, are inconsistent with our values and LCV is withdrawing our participation in the presidential primary candidate climate forum previously announced in New York City on September 23,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski.

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“We will remain focused on the important work of elevating the climate crisis in this election and encouraging all the candidates to be prioritizing solutions,” Karpinski added.

The piece, written by Dale Peck and titled “My Mayor Pete Problem,” was removed from The New Republic’s website Saturday. The outlet said it was taken down “in response to criticism of the piece’s inappropriate and invasive content.”

“We regret its publication,” it added.

The op-ed drew widespread rebuke on social media after it referred to Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Ind., who is openly gay, as “Mary Pete” and speculated about his sexual preferences.

The LCV did not respond to a request for clarification from The Hill regarding whether it made its decision before or after the piece was removed.

New Republic owner Win McCormack later put out a longer statement apologizing for the article.

"The piece has been removed from our site and I, personally, am leading an inquiry to determine how it was published in the first place," McCormack said.

McCormack also said "that article's author Dale Peck, will never appear in the pages of The New Republic again on my watch."