The editorial director of G/O Media, Paul Maidment, has resigned after writers and editors of the company's sports blog, Deadspin, left the company en masse citing his leadership.

Maidment's resignation, announced in an email to employees first reported by HuffPost, comes after numerous resignations at Deadspin over a memo authored by the higher-up directing writers to stick solely to sports coverage and avoid mention of political topics in their posts.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I wanted to let you all know that effective immediately I have resigned my position as Editorial Director of G/O Media," Maidment wrote, according to HuffPost.

"It is the right moment for me to leave to pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity. I admire the journalism that you produce and the unique voice that is otherwise missing from mainstream media. It has been a great honor and I wish you all the very best. I am certain that the sites will grow and thrive in the future," he added.

Maidment joined G/O Media earlier this year and at the behest of CEO Jim Spanfeller worked to push Deadspin and other sites including Jezebel and Lifehacker that they should leave topics involving political discussions to other sites under the company's umbrella, infuriating many who had written about such topics for years.

The company's union celebrated Maidment's resignation on Twitter Tuesday afternoon following the email, stressing the need for a new editorial director who respects the editorial independence of the various sites in G/O Media's purview.

"We were informed today that our Editorial Director Paul Maidment has resigned from G/O Media. We look forward to working with management to find a new Editorial Director who understands our brands and respects our editorial independence," the union tweeted.