The New Republic published and then deleted an opinion article on Friday that offered shocking and incendiary commentary of South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s bid for the 2020 presidency.
The article, written by openly gay writer Dale Peck, was titled “My Mayor Pete Problem.” It included several salacious guesses made by the author about Buttigieg’s sexual life and repeatedly referred to him as “Mary Pete.”
Peck’s not-safe-for-work assessment of Pete Buttigieg, which claimed “Mary Pete is a neoliberal and a Jeffersonian meritocrat, which is to say he’s just another unrepentant or at least unexamined beneficiary of white male privilege,” spread quickly across the internet where it received widespread criticism from many members of the media.
In a Friday evening statement to the Washington Examiner, editor Chris Lehmann said, “The New Republic recognizes that this post crossed a line, and while it was largely intended as satire, it was inappropriate and invasive.” The article was deleted a short time later.
