BuzzFeed Editor-In-Chief Ben Smith Defends Outing Anthony Weiner’s Sexting Partner

BuzzFeed Editor-In-Chief Ben Smith wants everyone to know that exposing Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner was the absolute right decision.

Smith appeared last night on Piers Morgan alongside Gloria Allred. You might recall that Allred represented the female involved in the Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal.

BuzzFeed during its outing of Weiner’s sexting partner revealed Allred’s 23-year-old client. Gloria told Piers Morgan that it was wrong of the media to out the young lady. Smith slapped back, claiming that BuzzFeed’s slut shaming of the female was within bounds. Smith proclaimed, “You’re not required to send your communications to TheDirty.com.”

Smith then went on the offensive, noting:

“There’s no way Anthony Weiner would be in this race” [if Huma Abedin] wasn’t in some way driving it.”

Smith then proclaimed that many political figures, including Anthony Weiner, want “affection, love and attention.” Smith called Weiner’s tale of scandal a “traditional” Washington story.

In the meantime BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith continues to defend Weiner. In a recent Tweet, he writes:

Weiner story really testing definition of word “past”

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) July 25, 2013

Perhaps we should let the past be the past; then again, Anthony Weiner just admitted to sexting with several other women following his resignation. Weiner was rather forthcoming with this new information. When asked how many women he sexted with since resigning, Weiner responded, “I don’t believe I had any more than three.”

Maybe someone needs to introduce Anthony Weiner to SnapChat. I mean, if the guy isn’t going to stop sexting, perhaps a bit of privacy is his best approach.

Do you think Ben Smith is right: Should BuzzFeed have outed Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner? Should the media stop harping on Weiner’s past?