Man Repeller Is Ceasing Operations [Updated]

Founder Leandra Medine Cohen announced the news to her employees on a Zoom call earlier this week.

The site Repeller, known up until recently as Man Repeller, is ceasing operations. According to Business of Fashion, Leandra Medine Cohen announced the news to current employees via a Zoom call on Monday. Sources revealed to BoF that an announcement regarding severance pay would be made later in the week.

This news follows a summer of change for the publication: In June, the site's founder Medine Cohen said she would "step back" after being criticized over her company's lack of diversity and treatment of former Black and POC staffers. Three months later, the site rebranded, stating that the updates were a part of larger internal and external changes.

We'll continue updating this story as more information becomes available.

Update, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8:50 a.m.: Medine Cohen confirmed the site's closure in a brief post on Monday.

"As of Friday, October 23, 2020, Repeller is closed," she wrote. "The site will no longer publish new stories but the archive will remain available to access. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their talent and effort to this brand. And thank you, the audience, for having chosen to spend time here.I wish you all the very best."

Update, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 4:20 p.m.: Medine Cohen posted a statement to her personal Instagram on Wednesday afternoon regarding the site's closure.

"As of last week, Man Repeller is closed. I (really) look forward to memorializing the decade long relationship we developed (indisputably, MR would not have been possible without the people it employed and the community that gathered around it) but for right now, if anyone reading this is looking for creative and incredibly hardworking talent, please dm me," she wrote as a caption to an image of orange tulips. "You'd be lucky to get a chance to work with any member of the team that was let go."

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