BuzzFeed has withdrawn from an ad contract it signed with the Republican National Committee earlier this year, the company’s CEO Jonah Peretti said in an email to employees Monday that pointed to the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump as the reason.
“Earlier today, Buzzfeed informed the RNC that we would not accept Trump for President ads and that we would be terminating our agreement with them,” Peretti said in the email, which was posted in full on BuzzFeed. “The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.”
According to his email, the RNC had signed a contract back in April, before Trump was the nominee, pledging to “spend a significant amount” on political advertising for the election cycle.
Peretti went on to compare the decision to the website’s refusal to run cigarette ads.
“We certainly don’t like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company. However, in some cases we must make business exceptions: we don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason.”
BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith sent employees a follow-up email, BuzzzFeed said, and stressed that the decision was made on the publishing side, and would not affect the outlet’s editorial approach to covering Trump.
“This was Jonah’s call, and the prerogative of a publisher,” he said.
Update: The RNC sent TPM a statement from communications director Sean Spicer:
“Space was reserved on many platforms, but we never intended to use Buzzfeed. Although it is ironic that they have not ruled out taking money from a candidate currently under investigation by the FBI, ” Spicer said.
