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Including, as it turns out,Reply Alls.
When I found out they were making this series, I laughed, said Luse.
I was like, You have to be kidding me.
Eddings thread went viral, promoted by various former Gimlet staffers and numerous peers in the podcast industry.
By the end of February, both Vogt and Pinnamaneni would depart from the show permanently.
The miniseries was abandoned andReply All arguably Gimlets most critically acclaimed show wasplaced on hold.
(Spotify, which owns Gimlet andReply All, declined to comment for this story.)
Soon, one of the industrys most-coveted companies would erupt in spectacular controversy.
The company was built on a foundation of public-radio talent.
(Pinnamaneni would join the company in March 2015, four months afterReply Alls launch.)
As with start-ups in general, the organizational informality was occasionally exciting to its early employees.
But it alsoled to an environment where there were severe imbalances in power, work, and compensation.
There were also pointed concerns about race and diversity in the workplace from the beginning.
(A source familiar with management says there is no HR record of this incident.)
Its the persona who answered the door when people showed up asking why there were failures.
They were often white, but not always.
(Pinnamaneni, who is South Asian, came from the typical audio-professional background.)
In other words, the same dynamics that were presented atBon Appetitin the Test Kitchen.
The problems at Gimlet came to the fore thanks to a unionization effort.
Eddings was part of that original organizing committee; at least half of the group were people of color.
They were the prized horse, said a former contractor.
There was a sense of trying to protect old Gimlet, said another former staffer.
Other former staffers said they heard similar sentiments expressed in private conversation.
The committee was informed of this sometime in January 2019.
One former staffer active in the organizing effort described Blumberg as seeming like he took the union effort personally.
I had heard a rumor that Blumberg cried during the meeting; I asked them if it was true.
Oh, Alex cries at every meeting, they said.
There was a lot of crying at Gimlet in general.
But you had a lot of power and opportunity to change.
You had people fighting for a salary, not a big payday.
In the end, the committee agreed to hold off on the organizing push until the sale was finalized.
Although Gimlet recognized the union nearly two years ago, they are still negotiating a first contract.
The company is now led by formerHuffPosteditor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen, who was hired by Spotify in early 2020.
Blumberg reports to Polgreen, and Lieber no longer works with Gimlet directly.
(Blumberg and Lieber declined to comment on this story.)
It is, in some ways, a different Gimlet than it was before the acquisition.
Meanwhile,Reply Alls podcast feed remains dormant.
Feelings about Vogt and Pinnamaneni remain mixed among many in the Gimlet orbit.
The fact that they both left the show came as a slight surprise to Luse.
I think I came to expect that nothing would happen, she said.
Thats just what happens in the media in general.
As one former staffer told me, its not enough to have leaders with good intentions.
Neglect turns into malice, they said.
