Jezebel has removed more than 100 articles from its website, including pieces with racy or controversial headlines. The move, discovered via “404 error” messages, has sparked protests from former staff who allege the site is erasing its history of feminist and abortion coverage.
The missing content includes a mix of sexually explicit, vulgar, and politically charged material. Some of the vanished pieces were lighthearted pop culture commentary, such as S— Gets Real in the New Mockingjay Trailer,
while others were more pointed, including Dick Cheney, Superhero
and The Weird World Of Penis Lengthening.
William Sagan Denies Targeted Purge
William Sagan, the publisher of Paste Magazine—which acquired Jezebel in 2023—has defended the site’s current state. In a series of emails, Sagan claimed that no articles were targeted for removal and that thousands of pieces with racy headlines remain live. He noted that the site has published over 275,000 articles, making the missing content a small fraction of the total archive.
When confronted with dozens of broken links, Sagan explained that the site does not delete content but will occasionally move old articles into draft status
to address grammar problems, broken links, or outdated third-party content. These articles remain unpublished until an editor reviews and reposts them.
Simply go to Jezebel and search on the word abortion or f— or dick. The search result on Jezebel shows articles with that word in the title.
William Sagan, Publisher of Paste Magazine
Sagan further asserted that anyone claiming the site is purging abortion coverage is lying and defaming Jezebel,
pointing out that over 1,000 articles with “abortion” in the title are still available.
Former Staff Allege Erasure of Abortion Coverage
Despite Sagan’s denials, former staffers are outraged, specifically citing the disappearance of a 2016 interview conducted by Jia Tolentino with a woman who had an abortion at 32 weeks. While the story is gone from the live site, it remains accessible via the Wayback Machine as of Oct. 4, 2026.
Jezebel was synonymous with unflinching, powerful abortion coverage that shaped the narrative across the United States.
Susan Rinkunas, former Jezebel senior writer
Rinkunas described the un-publishing of such stories as unconscionable
and argued it proves the current owner is unfit to run the site. Other former writers suggested the move was a calculated attempt to make the archive more advertiser-friendly.
It’s just really disrespectful to people’s work and also to the audience’s intelligence and also to the audience — period — to just take this archive of really good work by my colleagues, really important work that in some cases define what feminism is on the internet, and then to just throw it in the trash because it’s not advertiser-friendly
Rich Juzwiak, former senior writer
Sagan has disputed this motive, stating he has received no complaints from advertisers regarding the site’s language. Meanwhile, former staff writer Kylie Cheung called the removals an outrage,
arguing that the action deletes the work from the public record.
Ethics Experts Warn Against Lack of Transparency
The dispute over the missing archive has drawn criticism from media ethics professors who argue that removing published material is inherently problematic. They suggest that any such action requires a clear, transparent explanation to the readership.
- Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at University of Minnesota, called the act of depublishing material a
futile attempt to rewrite history.
- Eric Deggans, a journalism and media ethics professor at Washington and Lee University, emphasized that readers should have a clear sense of why content they have already read is being changed or removed.
