Tina Brown To Lagerfeld: Newsweek Is Not Dying Or A “Sh-tty Little Paper”

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Tina Brown To Lagerfeld: Newsweek Is Not Dying Or A “Sh-tty Little Paper”

1:15 pm, March 23rd | by Laura Donovan

Data analyst extraordinaire Karl Lagerfeld, who said at a press conference this week that Newsweek is a dying, “sh-tty little paper,” needs to get his facts straight, according to the publication. In response to the German designer’s comments about NewsBeast editor-in-chief Tina Brown being a has-been and the product being awful, Newsweek said in a statement to Fashionista that the magazine has actually increased in popularity since the former Vanity Fair editor hopped on board to steer the ship:

“In the past year since Tina Brown took over as editor in chief of Newsweek, newsstand sales have increased 30% year on year, advertising pages have seen a 27% increase for the first quarter of 2012, we have over 2.2 million people engaged in our social media communities and perhaps the most telling indicator of the renewed vitality of Newsweek, subscription renewals, in a consistent state of decline since 2005, rose by 3% last year.”

But the higher numbers probably won’t lead Lagerfeld, who was picked apart and declared “overrated” in Newsweek less than two months ago, to go back on his claim that the mag is in trouble. At the Japan event this week, he said Brown’s life is over:

“First of all, Tina Brown’s magazine is not doing well at all. She is dying. I’m sorry for Tina Brown, who was such a success at ‘Vanity Fair,’ to go down with a sh-tty little paper like this. I’m sorry.”

In the end, he feels more pity than disdain for Brown, but not enough to help with funeral arrangements or anything. At least he’s not walking around calling more people fat, right?

TAGS: karl lagerfeld | Tina Brown