Dear Gawker's Legal Team— I write with regard to the piece you posted on Sunday by Joshua Stein. To say that the article and headline are gross distortions of my conversation with a reporter for the New York Times – and not with Josh — would be a tremendous understatement. While I fully appreciate that Gawker.com is a gossip site, that does not excuse the fact that it was incredibly irresponsible to pass off as an article Josh’s speculation about what was said by me in a conversation (with The Times) to which he was not a party. He did not interview me for his “piece;” rather all he did was write an article as if he had been a participant in my interview with The Times. While I assume that you will not accede to my request, I will make it any way — please remove the article titled “The Psychotic Coping Inanity of a Laid Off Editorial Assistant” from your website. When I was interviewed by The Times, Merkato 55 was completely packed, wall to wall people, many of whom were ordering bottles of champagne for a Saturday brunch. (I was not one of them.) In light of the packed house and revelry going on, I absolutely did say to the reporter from The New York Times, in a very facetious manner, “What recession?” I said this not because I didn’t know there was a recession, but because the scene spoke for itself – with a packed house for Saturday brunch with people spending lots of money, one would not think that there was economic downturn. Sadly, the contextual reality of my conversation with The Times is not reflected at all in your piece. Instead, the Gawker piece goes out of its way to present a 180 degree different context, making it sound like I am immune from and unaware of the current recession. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because of the recession, I was laid off as part of a reduction in force, and to date, have been unable to secure a new job. This article, which is a gross and unfair distortion of my interview with The Times, will only serve to further impair my ability to secure a job. Please due the right and decent thing and take the article down, or at the very least, correct the article to place in proper context my comment. Thank you for your time and consideration. Regards, Joey Brodish