It looks like the tumult at LA Weekly continues. Last year the long running, independent paper was purchased by a new company called Semanal Media , which was created by a group of investors (that refused to reveal their identity) for the specific purpose of buying the paper. The vast majority of the company's staff was fired at the same time.
After research by other publications, the new owners were revealed to be a group of conservative investors. Leadership of the paper was turned over to Brian Calle, who was an officer at the Claremont Institute. According to the Claremont institute website, their mission includes: "The Claremont Institute has identified the principles that will be necessary to defeat progressivism. We teach the principles of the American Founding, and their application today, to the brightest young conservative men and women who will, with our help, go on to positions of power and influence in government, the courts, academia, and the media."
Henry Rollins stopped writing for the paper and numerous advertisers, including Amoeba records, pulled their support.
The paper then hired a new Editor, Hilel Aron. However, Aron faced criticism due to previous tweets he posted, including: "is it gay to send a farmville valentine's gift to a dude? you're right, best to stick with chicks to be safe" ; "Wtf with high gas prices is this because our president is black?"; "They should have aids walk, gay pride, ciclavia, carmaggedon, and the marathon on the same day, get all the bullshit in one fell swoop." ;"Currently experiencing the banality of poor people"; "Listening to a discussion of fat women with small breasts"; "cabin, hopefully avoiding gay day."
The chaos continues at the publication. According to the LA Times, one of the investors is now suing the rest. Investor/owner David Welch claims the other owner have gutted the company for their own personal gain, have mismanaged the company, and have improperly kicked him out from management decisions. This week, Welch filed a suit in LA County Court. Welch is seeking damages as well as dissolution of the company. The suit focuses on the paper takeover, blaming Calle for the backlash when Semanal purchased the paper. Welch also blames Calle for allowing a marijuana company (that Calle has a stake in) to advertise in the paper despite owing thousands for previous advertisements. The suit further alleges that Calle, and other investors, Kevin Xu, Wayne Gross and Steve Mehr, both attorneys, created several competing business that negatively affected the paper. Welch alleges that Calle and Xu convened a meeting of all the owners except one , Nyjah Huston, and they agreed to kick Welch out from the management team.
The complaint also alleges the identity of the paper's investors: Xu and his mother, Lily Li, are listed as together owning 26% of Street Media; Calle, 17%; Welch, 13%; Mehr, 12%; Bequer, 8%; property developer Michael Mugel, 6%; Gross, 5%; hotel developer Paul Makarechian, 4%; Huston, — who previously had not been publicly identified as an owner — 2%; and attorney Alan Greenberg, 1%. Calle has responded, saying that the suit is baseless. We'll keep you updated.