Gawken is here, and Media Twitter is delighted

By Max Willens • September 14, 2016 •

Just weeks after Gawker was buried and the media had paid its last respects, a parody site dedicated to tweaking its nemesis has sprung up.

Called Gawken, the site promises to “open your mind to the future.” It features a number of quick posts written by pseudonyms including Tim Cook’s Toaster, Elon Musk’s Tesla (“VVRROOOOM VROOOMMMM,” it writes, not unconvincingly) and, of course, someone named Peter Theil, an author not quite named after the venture capitalist who bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s legal battle against Gawker.

The site’s first posts went live late last week, joining the proud ranks of The Clickhole, Google Nest, @ProfJeffJarvis and all other parody media produced for the social web, and it instantly delighted Media Twitter, including more than a few Gawker Media alumni:

Holy fuck https://t.co/0GMONhoAFM pic.twitter.com/78rwIEVYAd

— eve peyser (@evepeyser) September 14, 2016

pretty sure gawken would get funded if it were real

— Max Chafkin (@chafkin) September 14, 2016

This is the content America needs https://t.co/eTblJv3MHy

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 14, 2016

The site’s appearance is the latest piece of evidence that Gawker’s spirit lives on, even though its sister publications have been sold off and the flagship fell. Over the weekend, news erupted of a skirmish that broke out inside Univision over its decision to delete six posts published years ago across several old Gawker Media titles.

So far, no one has come forward to claim responsibility. But if we can sniff out the authors’ true identities, you’ll be the first to know.

https://digiday.com/?p=198401