Flack Editor Returning To OK! As Kent Brownridge Leaves
General manager Kent Brownridge is following editor Susan Toepfer out the door at celebrity magazine OK!. The publication's overlords are bringing back the old guard — including former celebrity flack Rob Shuter.
Late yesterday it was looking like Brownridge was probably toast following Toepfer's departure, and indeed he was. He had been feuding with parent company CEO Richard Desmond, reports Keith Kelly of the New York Post, as circulation plummeted from an average of roughly 600,000 copies to one of roughly 350,000 copies. But then, what did Desmond expect would happen once he stopped paying top dollar to put A-list celebrities on the cover?
Now Desmond apparently has a "do or die" profitability plan and is firing all of Brownridge's hires, except literally one person. He's even bringing back Rob Shuter, the "editor" whose job is to shamelessly pander to celebrity whims to get their pictures into the magazine, exclusively.
The magazine's chances don't look good but its next few months should at least be an entertaining shitstorm.
