In the next 24 to 48 hours there will be more stories on GotNews honcho Charles Johnson than ever imaginable. As much as journalists and strangers online like to rake him over the coals, they’re sure knocking down his door now.
And truth be told, it’s tiring getting all that attention.
“The whole universe is descending on me,” Johnson told The Mirror in a phone conversation this morning. “It’s physically exhausting.”
Politico, Washington Examiner and a freelancer out of Chicago are all preparing stories on Johnson. The Washington Examiner story, expected out Wednesday evening, will focus on his reputation among conservative journos. Johnson says ABC has called him for interviews and more info on the UVA rape accuser. And Larry King has also called for an interview, which he says he’ll do because his grandmother will enjoy watching it.
Politico‘s Jacob Silverman has called him repeatedly for info. Johnson says it’s clear he’s writing a “hit piece” on him, but he’ll help steer him in the direction of facts as much as that is possible. A lot of Silverman’s questions have focused on Johnson allegedly being fired from The Daily Caller and Breitbart News — both of which he denies.
“Reports of my firings are greatly exaggerated,” he says, part in jest but mostly serious.
Johnson says the only time he was fired was from his parents’ hippy clothing business. “Oh all sorts of things,” he replied when asked for the reasons. “I was really bad at mopping the floors, I read books all the time, rather than working in their store.”
(What I can say here regarding The Daily Caller is that while he wrote stories for TheDC he was never a full-time employee. In January, he and Daily Caller management parted ways. I was not privy to the details.)
From the sounds of it, Johnson left TheDC with mostly no ill will, although he still jabs at TheDC from time to time and claims its reporters are talking anonymously to other publications about him (which isn’t actually true). “I used the Caller to test out a business model I wanted to do,” he said.
The spotlight on Johnson is glaring.
Gawker wrote three pieces in 24 hours. Deadspin wrote a story wondering if he shit on the floor. (He tells me he didn’t, by the way.) Washington Post even ran a profile calling him the most vilified blogger online for Tuesday.
Johnson boasts of 1.8 million page views on his site in the past week alone.
He’s hardly complaining, but says he’d like to get back to his day job.