CityBeat Hits New Low with 'Hitler' Reference

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The tag is so offensive that LA CityBeat readers are gasping for breath today, wondering how it even made it past the publisher to the printer, much less the streets. In this week's "Travel Issue"-- in a piece titled, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" the subhead reads:

"Did you know that Hitler managed to give every German man, woman and child a yearly vacation at either the mountains or the sea?"

But those following the CityBeat drama note that, while this inflammatory anti-Semitic pro-Hitler subhead indicates the publication turned yet another ugly corner, this is another gaffe (albeit the worst) in a steady succession of the bizarre, crude, and tasteless that has become a CityBeat signature, ever since the firing of longtime editor Steve Appleford in March. (To date, CityBeat Publisher Charles Gerenscer and consultant Michael Sigman have not stated their reasons for Appleford’s removal.)

First they brought on former OC Weekly Executive Editor Steve Lowery. He quit in a week, staying only long enough to leave behind his short snappy legacy -- a sophomoric but otherwise unintelligible editorial titled: “Abortion. Yeah.”

Enter Rebecca Schoenkopf, a.k.a. Commie Girl, ex-OC Weekly columnist who quit that publication shortly after it was acquired by New Times Media (amid rumors she was about to be fired) It quickly became apparent that Schoenkopf’s obsession with gratuitous content and sticking her finger in a wall socket equals -- if not exceeds -- Lowery's.

So far Commie Girl has tackled subjects ranging from her vagina, her vagina, her vagina, ("...that's the kind of feminine, ladylike, womanly, nurturing, vagina-bearing American I am. I can cater the bacon, put it up on a tray. Also, I can menstruate - a little something I'd like to see Russ Stanton try," wrote Schoenkopf in her first editorial.) Then there was the editorial featuring Schoenkopf peeing in a cup. To go with that, she strung together a series of meaningless sentences for a cover piece that actually sounded like it would work till you read it called, "My Mama The Communist." (On her blog, Commie Girl posts stuff like how she had a dream in which "Hillary Clinton fingerfucked me.")

Four-year-olds playing with matches? Well, judging from the Letters to the Editor, there is such a thing as too much controversy. Reactions by CityBeat readers have been overwhelmingly negative, outraged, or just dismissive. "If you just read it, it's really bad, but if you drop a tab of acid and read it ...it's brilliant," wrote reader Daniel McVey.

"It's obvious she thinks it's cool, but I think she sounds like a frustrated middle-aged suburban housewife on crack," observed one CityBeat writer. "Gonzo's out, but when it was good, she wasn't it. And now she's crossed the line to antisemitism, which is beyond the pale and requires an immediate public apology.

"It's gone from bad to worse over there in such a short time. But even before Commie Girl crossed over into what I feel is blatant racism, my thinking was, okay start giving this paper away with a Woodstock T-shirt and free a bag of weed."

Original photo by Aidan McMichael via flickr.