If The Daily were to shut down tomorrow, I truly hope readers’ first thoughts wouldn’t be “Good riddance, I hope Alex steps on a landmine on the way home.” This was a tweet from a reader aimed at millionaire Nick Denton, who received it after stepping on nearly everyone’s toes with an unbridled blog called Gawker. (I will note though, that there is something legendary about being part of a publication that provokes this level of ire.)
Gawker, famously quashed in 2016 by billionaire Peter Thiel, is due to be resurrected this fall. Though it outed multiple bigwigs, leaked Hulk Hogan’s nudes and otherwise wreaked havoc with destructive commentary, Gawker retained a loyal and hungry audience, indicating that there’s something dangerously beautiful about blogs worth bringing the model back for.