15. Four cast members of the Bravo reality TV series Vanderpump Rules were fired on June 9 following accusations of racism.

The accusations against Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni have been known since January 2020, when social media users shared screenshots of tweets by the cast members that contained racist language.

A black former cast member said stars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute called the police on her for crimes the cast member did not commit.

“My actions were not racially driven, [but] I am now completely aware of how my privilege blinded me from the reality of law enforcement’s treatment of the black community, and how dangerous my actions could have been to her,” Doute wrote in an apology.

14. Greg Glassman, CEO and founder of CrossFit, announced his resignation from the company on June 9 following backlash over his comments about the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd.

On a Zoom call with staff, Glassman told company officials that “we’re not mourning for George Floyd.”

“Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than that it’s the white thing to do,” Glassman said in a recording obtained by BuzzFeed. The CEO also suggested that Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to cover up money laundering occurring at a club that employed both men.

The comments caused an outpouring of criticism on social media, as well as pushback from Crossfit employees.

“I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members,” Glassman said in an apology. “I cannot let my behavior stand in the way of HQ’s or affiliates’ missions. They are too important to jeopardize.”

13. A number of prominent academics and economists, including Paul Krugman, have called on the University of Chicago to fire professor of economics Harald Uhlig over a tweet criticizing Black Lives Matter.

“Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization @Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice,” Uhlig wrote on June 8.

“Yet another privileged white man who evidently can’t control his urge to belittle the concerns of those less fortunate,” Krugman wrote of Uhlig.

12. David Collum, director of undergraduate studies at Cornell University’s chemistry department, announced on June 8 that he would step down from the position after facing a torrent of online criticism over a tweet criticizing the 75-year-old protester who was knocked to the ground by Buffalo police during a George Floyd protest.

“The guy needed to give that cop space. Wasn’t brutality; the guy was feeble. The cracked skull (which I agree was the likely event) was self-inflicted,” Collum’s tweet read in part.

The tweet went viral after Hollywood actor Kumail Nanjiani, a star of the HBO series Silicon Valley, retweeted it. The professor then faced backlash from students and staff.

However, Collum said that the Cornell chemistry department had already been planning to bring in a new head of undergraduate studies. Collum has been a professor at Cornell since 1980 and has not been fired from the chemistry department entirely.

11. MTV fired reality TV star Dee Nguyen from its show The Challenge after what the network called “offensive comments on the Black Lives Matter movement.” Nguyen retaliated against another Twitter user for suggesting she didn’t take the Black Lives Matter movement seriously enough, with the user writing “people are dying.”

“People die every f***ing day,” Nguyen responded. “U don’t know me or what I do. I suggest you wake the f*** up and get off social media.”

Nguyen apologized after backlash, writing “I am sorry for the insensitive tweet I posted earlier. I was being defensive and not speaking from my heart. But there’s no excuse.”

10. Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit food magazine, resigned on June 8 after a 2004 photo of him dressed as a “Puerto Rican” for Halloween resurfaced on Twitter. The picture was taken with Rapoport’s wife, Simone Shubuck, who posted the photo on Instagram in 2013 and referred to Rapoport as “Papi” in the caption.

Rapoport wrote on Instagram that he needed to “reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being and to allow Bon Appétit to get to a better place.” Rapoport had worked with publisher Conde Nast for over 20 years.

9. Christene Barberich, editor and co-founder of women’s lifestyle magazine Refinery29, resigned after current and former staffers alleged that they faced discrimination in the workplace.

“I worked at Refinery29 for less than nine months due to a toxic company culture where white women’s egos ruled the near nonexistent editorial processes,” writer Ashley Ford wrote on Twitter. “One of the founders consistently confused myself and one our full-time front desk associates & pay disparity was atrocious.”

“I will be stepping aside in my role at R29 to help diversify our leadership in editorial and ensure this brand and the people it touches can spark a new defining chapter,” Ms. Barberich wrote in a post on Instagram.

Nancy Dubuc, head of Vice Media, which acquired Refinery29 in October, said Barberich’s exit was “an acceleration of a conversation Christene and I have been having since Vice’s acquisition of R29 and she asked that we make the change immediately over the past few days.”

8. James Bennet, opinion editor at the New York Times, resigned on June 7 following backlash from staffers at the paper over an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), in which Cotton called to use federal troops to quell rioting in major cities.

Publisher A.G. Sulzberger blamed a “significant breakdown in our editing processes,” though no actual factual errors were identified, and Bennet subsequently apologized to Times staff. Numerous staffers had tweeted that Cotton’s op-ed put black colleagues “in danger.”