Just hours after The New Republic posted a bizarre, acerbic, and definitely not satirical essay by gay novelist and critic Dale Peck about 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who is also gay, the magazine pulled down the piece and posted a short Editor’s Note in its place.

Dale Peck’s post “My Mayor Pete Problem” has been removed from the site, in response to criticism of the piece’s inappropriate and invasive content. We regret its publication.

Almost immediately after the essay’s publication, criticism began pouring in on social media, decrying its vicious and petty tone. One example: throughout the piece, Peck routinely belittled Buttigieg by referring to him as “Mary Pete.”

When CNN media reporter Brian Stelter reached out to TNR for comment about the piece and the deluge of angry responses to it, the magazine’s editor, Chris Lehmann, tried to excuse the post’s incendiary tone by saying it “was largely intended as satire.”

TNR’s response to my request for comment: “The New Republic recognizes that this post crossed a line, and while it was largely intended as satire, it was inappropriate and invasive,” Chris Lehmann says https://t.co/ExXYUNe1SU — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 12, 2019

Lehmann’s “satire” defense didn’t wash with many critics, however.

The only thing it could possibly be read as satire of is the Dale Peck oeuvre. https://t.co/Vf4exlTA5s — Julia Turner (@juliaturner) July 13, 2019

I get satire and appreciate pithy, but this @newrepublic shock piece by Dale Peck on Pete Buttigieg where one gay man tears down another with (among other things) a “Mary Pete” moniker is just pathetic. To add insult to injury, it’s just terrible writing so I won’t link to it. pic.twitter.com/VLAJDdllvt — Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) July 12, 2019

After his comment to Stelter, Lehmann offered no further comment on the future fate of Peck’s essay, it was eventually deleted, however, with the same “inappropriate and invasive” language included in the Editor’s Note.

Screengrab via CNN.

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