Village Voice Fires Nat Hentoff, Lynn Yaeger

Screw loyalty; after spending about a half century writing for the Village Voice, 83-year-old columnist Nat Hentoff got fired yesterday, along with Lynn Yaeger, a fashion writer who spent about 30 years at the Voice. Also terminated was Chloe A. Hilliard, who has worked there for two years. Happy New Year! Hentoff is widely regarded for his writing on music (particularly jazz) and his weekly diatribes on human rights and civil liberties issues, with a blistering emphasis in recent years on "the chief rapists of the Constitution since 9/11." Since being acquired by alt-weekly conglomerate New Times Media in 2005, the Voice has laid off about half of its staff, and staffer Tom Robbins tells the Times the Voice is having "serious advertising revenue problems"—which are sure to be solved by shitcanning great writers! Hentoff will continue writing a synidcated column for United Media and contribute to the Wall Street Journal. "I’m 83 and a half. You’d think they’d have let me go silently," he told the Times. "Fortunately, I’ve never been more productive."