Taking a stand

N.Y. Post columnist quits/is fired over Piazza column

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ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Nobody was outed, but somebody's been ousted.

Sports columnist Wallace Matthews has left the New York Post after a difference of opinion concerning the paper's publication of a gossip column this week which spoke of an unidentified gay member of the New York Mets.

The Post on Thursday issued a statement saying "Matthews has been terminated, effective immediately."

Matthews, however, appeared to have resigned the day before. On a Web site message board not affiliated with the Post, Matthews said he would never write for the paper again after it refused to run his column condemning the sensationalistic nature of Neal Travis' gossip column earlier this week. Matthews posted his anti-gossip column for people to read.

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"The gossip columnist then acknowledged he was unable to substantiate any part of the rumor. He printed it anyway," Matthews wrote of Travis' column.

Travis' story had prompted a whispering campaign concerning catcher Mike Piazza, who stood before the media on Tuesday to publicly declare himself a heterosexual.

Matthews, an eight-year veteran at the Post and longtime member of the New York press corps, filed a column on Tuesday saying that Piazza never should have been put in that situation and that his paper's decision to run Travis' story lacked integrity.

In its statement, the Post said it tried to work with Matthews on the language of the column and was set to publish it Thursday. But, the paper said, when news of the Internet posting broke, it decided to kill the column and fire Matthews.

"In light of Matthews' derogatory comments and insubordination, Post management felt it ws no longer appropriate for him to continue in the paper's employ," the statement concluded.

In Thursday's Newsday, Matthews' account differed.

"They kicked [the column] back and said you have to take out all the references to Travis. .." Matthews said, describing discussions that took place Tuesday night. "I said if I can't mention it, I can't write a column, it's not an honest column. I told them if they didn't run it, I'm never going to write for you guys again."

The gossip column used an upcoming Details magazine interview with Mets manager Bobby Valentine as a leaping off point to claim there was a gay player on the Mets. In the magazine, which is not yet on newsstands, Valentine says baseball is "probably ready for an openly gay player."

Valentine said his comment was a "one-line answer to a one-line question" and was used completely without context.

 

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