It has been less than two months since the Metro Times and Real Detroit merged into a “superweekly."
Now, Steve Neavling of the Motor City Muckraker reports that the Cleveland owners have laid off four employees: Metro Times music editor Brett Callwood, production manager Desiree Kelly, creative director Robert Nixon and account executive John Schoenkopf. The layoffs came late last week.
Schoenkopf, according to Neavling, recently had surgery for testicular cancer and felt the layoff was connected to his illness. He posted on Facebook: “got fired from metro times for having cancer.”
Metro Times Editor-In-Chief Valerie Vande Panne said: “The allegation that we laid anyone off for a medical condition is absolutely false."
Neavling writes that music editor Callwood will still be a contributor to the publication, and Nixon may also freelance.
-- Allan Lengel
