A top journalist who worked for the New Yorker magazine for 27 years has lost his job after masturbating on a staff Zoom call. Jeffrey Toobin who regretted his action also tendered an apology. 

The 60-year-old who is also senior legal analyst for CNN, confirmed in a tweet that he had been sacked.

 He wrote on Twitter; “I was fired today by @NewYorker after 27 years as a Staff Writer. I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work.”

 The New Yorker’s parent company Conde Nast wrote in an email to staff: “I want to assure everyone that we take workplace matters seriously.” After he was suspended last month Mr Toobin said he had believed himself to be off-camera during the incident. Vice News, which broke the initial story, reported that senior colleagues had seen Mr Toobin masturbating while apparently on a separate video call. 

The incident happened on 15 October during an election simulation involving the New Yorker and WNYC radio. Mr Toobin was immediately suspended. In a statement to Vice last month, he said:

 “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera.” He apologised to his family, friends and colleagues.“I believed I was not visible on Zoom,” he told Vice. 

“I thought no-one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video.”