BuzzFeed says it's axing a deal with the Republican National Committee to run its political advertisements because of Donald Trump's fiery rhetoric — likening the decision to a ban on cigarette ads "because they are hazardous to our health."
According to the website, the company's CEO Jonah Peretti dropped the bombshell on staffers in a Monday morning email.
The ad-buy was worth $1.3 million, according to
Politico.
"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, BuzzFeed reports.
"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."
"We certainly don't like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company," Peretti adds. "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."
The site's editor in chief, Ben Smith, tells staffers in a separate email that the decision won't impact coverage of Trump, BuzzFeed reports.
"This was Jonah's call, and the prerogative of a publisher," Smith explains.
The move was the latest in Trump's stormy
relationship with the media.
The Huffington Post last July announced it would relegate stories about Trump to its entertainment page, only to
reverse course in December — but still tacks an editor's note onto stories about Trump, calling him a "serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther."
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