Buel wrote, "That said, there aren't many people brave enough to invest in print journalism these days, and we have invested our life savings in the business and don't wish to lose that."

Original Post, Saturday, July 14

Stephen Buel stepped down Saturday as the publisher of the alternative weekly East Bay Express, a day after publishing an editorial where he admitted to using a racial slur for African-Americans and other "hateful words" during a meeting with staff members last month.

"I have sadly come to the conclusion that I cannot defend myself without endangering the journalism that is my legacy," Buel wrote in a resignation announcement posted on East Bay Express' website on Saturday.

Buel told KQED via text message, "My head is spinning."

Last month, Buel unilaterally took down stories written by Azucena Rasilla posted to the publication's website that he said, in an editorial in the Express on July 13, "did not live up to my editorial standards." Others at a meeting with three staffers on June 1 say that he said the stories were "racist to white people."

One of the stories dealt with white people singing along to hip-hop songs that used a racial slur, which Buel repeated during the June 1 meeting. After the incident, Buel held a series of meetings intended to address the controversy, but those actions weren't enough for many staff members, who were frustrated that Buel insisted that he would continue to make editorial decisions as the self-proclaimed "editorial director."

Rasilla told KQED she resigned the night of the June 1 meeting. She said Buel then offered her job to Beatrice Kilat, who was working as a calendar editor at the time. Rasilla said Kilat turned down the offer and resigned as well.

In the hours after Buel posted his apology on Friday, readers and former colleagues took to social media to call on him to resign and to detail additional complaints against Buel and his leadership.