Esquire Shafts Jayson Blair

Like a medium-warm hot potato, Esquire has dropped Jayson Blair from reviewing the upcoming Stephen Glass movie about three weeks after the news broke to criticism. The AP reports Esquire editor David Granger as saying, "It was intended as a joke that readers would see when they picked up the issue." Oh, silly powerful editor David Granger: If it isn't funny when we're talking about it or when we read about it in the Post, how can it be funny when we're picking up the issue? The words "funny" and "Jayson Blair" only work when saying, "It's funny that Jayson Blair would think claiming expenses for a Texas trip with mainly Brooklyn receipts would work." And what about that "unique perspective" Blair could offer?

Gothamist on the initial news of Blair's Esquire assignment - we wonder if he still has the Jane gig. And all the precious server space we've devoted to Jayson Blair.