July 9, 2015

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Dismissed Reddit Figure Victoria Taylor Breaks Silence

Victoria Taylor's note on Reddit

Screengrab from Reddit

Victoria Taylor, famous for her role in Reddit’s popular r/IAmA section, has broken the silence over her dismissal that prompted an insurrection last week in which moderators shut down many of the site’s most popular sections.

Posting on Reddit, Taylor thanked those who rallied to her defense, calling the response “extraordinary.”

“I know many of you may be curious about what’s next for me, and I’m still figuring that out,” she wrote. “However, I can assure you, wherever the road leads, I will live up to the faith you’ve had in me.”

Taylor’s note comes just days after Reddit CEO Ellen Pao apologized to users of the popular website, citing a “long history of mistakes” that led to Taylor’s dismissal on July 2. Reddit has not publicly said why it let Taylor go, and Taylor’s own posting today does little to shed light on what happened.

Reddt’s r/IAmA (Ask Me Anything) section draws actors, musicians, President Obama and even NPR reporters to answer questions submitted from the vast community. Taylor’s role, as NPR’s Steve Mullis reported last week, “was often organizer, mediator and even transcriber for many of the AMAs.”

Steve reported that Taylor’s sudden departure prompted “moderators of r/IAmA [to] set the section to ‘private,’ effectively closing it to anyone but the moderators. Once word of Taylor’s firing began to spread, moderators of other popular sections (called subreddits) that cover movies, science, gaming and a host of others, also went private, making much of reddit essentially useless to regular site visitors.”

Reddit, which is commonly known as “the front page of the Internet,” has more than 160 million monthly visitors.

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FIFA Bans Former Executive Committee Member Chuck Blazer For Life

Chuck Blazer, then-CONCACAF general secretary, attends a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2005. FIFA banned him today for life over "various acts of misconduct."

Chuck Blazer, then-CONCACAF general secretary, attends a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2005. FIFA banned him today for life over “various acts of misconduct.” Bernd Kammerer/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Bernd Kammerer/AP

FIFA has banned its former executive committee member Chuck Blazer from taking part in any aspect of soccer for life.

“Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF,” FIFA said in a statement. “In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes.”

Blazer, if you recall, was the highest-ranking American in soccer’s governing body for years, and served as general secretary of CONCACAF, which runs the sport in North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.

He was one of 14 FIFA figures indicted by the Justice Department in May in connection with a corruption scheme that earned more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks over the past two decades. Blazer, who has pleaded guilty and turned informant against corruption in FIFA, is said to have personally misappropriated $15 million during that period.

Today’s decision was based on an investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee.

The corruption scandal at soccer’s governing body forced the resignation in June of its chief, Sepp Blatter, who had been re-elected to another term as president just days earlier. He said he will stay on as president until a successor is elected.

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