Reply All co-hosts Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi will be leaving the show next month, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. It is unclear whether or in what form the show will continue.
Gimlet executives emailed staffers Wednesday morning saying “Alex and Emmanuel have both made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Gimlet, and we’ll have more info to share on the future of Reply All soon. … The decision to end this iteration of the show came from a desire of the host team to move on, and we hope that there is a future where a show about the internet that isn’t actually about the internet can be reborn in Gimlet’s library.”
Goldman and Dzotsi’s announcement is the latest blow for the embattled eight-year-old show, which was once the jewel in Gimlet’s crown. When Reply All published The Test Kitchen, a limited series on the discriminatory work culture of Bon Appétit magazine, former Gimlet staffers set off a social media firestorm when they accused co-host PJ Vogt and producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni of fostering a similar environment and blocking internal efforts at making Gimlet more inclusive. Vogt and Pinnamaneni left the show shortly after.
Gimlet, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019, has witnessed a number of other high-profile departures in the past two months, including managing director Lydia Polgreen and co-founder Matthew Lieber. The Verge has reached out to Goldman and Dzotsi for comment.
You can read the whole letter below:
Dear Gimlet,
We write to share that Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi have decided to leave Reply All. They will publish their final episode of this season on June 23rd.
Alex and Emmanuel have both made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Gimlet, and we’ll have more info to share on the future of Reply All soon. This show has had an incredible run, pushing the boundaries of what works in narrative audio, inspiring fellow and future podcasters, and making audiences rethink their own digital lives. It is not an exaggeration to say it defined an era of podcasting.
The decision to end this iteration of the show came from a desire of the host team to move on, and we hope that there is a future where a show about the internet that isn’t actually about the internet can be reborn in Gimlet’s library. For now, though, we just want to thank the team for all of their hard work, and celebrate the last episodes of a great season.
Please reach out to us with any questions.
Nicole, Mimi, Reyhan and Valentina
[Head of news and knowledge programming Nicole Beemsterboer; head of scripted Mimi O’Donnell; head of society and culture programming Reyhan Harmanci; and head of content operations Valentina Powers.]
wazup.