Orange magazine — a faux-alt weekly newspaper experiment from the owners of the Tampa Tribune — is history, according to its former editor, who was fired last week in a brouhaha over the attempted publication of a naughty word.
The offending noun, "cunt," cost Mitzi Gordon her job and capped the 20-week life of the publication. The paper had shrunk to just 20 pages in recent issues.
"The paper's over. It's done," Gordon said. "You will not see another issue."
Orange's publisher, Carla Floyd, confirmed the closure, saying the newspaper "didn't meet our business expectations."
"We've been considering it for several weeks," Floyd said. "We try and test many products. For some reason, they [mostly] work, and this didn't."
Floyd would not discuss Gordon's dismissal.
The Media General-owned product hit the newsstands a day late two weeks ago after higher-ups in the company discovered it contained a fashion article about an artist and her online store, The CUNT Shop, written by freelancer Greg Caracci. The story was pulled from the issue after the papers were on the press, according to the subject of the story, Liat Silverman. Two sources confirmed that printing had been completed, and the full run was scrapped.
When asked about the controversy earlier last week for a story on CL's blog, Blurbex.com, Gordon would not discuss those kinds of details, but she did confirm that the story about Silverman's CUNT Shop was spiked because of concerns over the word's possible impact.
"I was asked to replace the story, and I'm not happy about it," Gordon told Creative Loafing before she was fired. "I thought there would be a little ripple, but I didn't expect what happened."
Gordon said she was told she was being fired for disobeying direct orders from a supervisor and for making statements that reflected poorly on her company, ostensibly those on the Blurbex story as well as a post she made on MySpace.
Silverman said she was surprised and dismayed by the decision, especially since her creations were part of a fashion show last week that benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs.
"I used 'cunt' in the title on purpose, trying to reclaim the term as a feminist," she said. Her line of designs features a prominent representation of the female genitalia. "I understand that if the word had been used in a bad concept, [not allowing it into the paper] would make sense. But it was from a feminist standpoint. Greg actually sent me a copy of what he wrote."
Silverman's thecuntshop.com is part gynecological health forum, part fashion store and part feminist statement. The Lutz artist says on her website that she is leaving the area to travel the country starting March 1 "in search of a commune (eco-village) to call home."
Caracci, not happy about the decision either, published the full interview on his MySpace blog, introducing it this way:
"I think this is kind of a ridiculous thing to do, considering the context of the word "cunt," not to mention the fact that we're supposed to be an alt-weekly, and, well, here's your fucking alt."
Gordon said Media General didn't have a clear direction for the publication.
"They didn't know what they were getting when they hired me. They didn't know what they wanted," she said in retrospect. "I was idealistic. I was trying to create something that was going to create a buzz.
"I should have known that Media General wasn't going to stand for my hijinks."
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.