Joanna Coles Decimates Her Cosmo Staff in One Fell Swoop

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At this point in the great game of musical mastheads, if you work at a print magazine and still have a job, you should be afraid, very afraid. Yesterday, Elle confirmed that style director Kate Lanphear will depart along with two senior accessories editors and today Cosmopolitan's newest ed-in-chief Joanna Coles laid off nine staffers. The Cut reports that the editrix's official statement was that "New incoming editors in chief often want to form their own teams. We will be announcing more new hires shortly." Can't wait to add those names to the mental map of WTF is going on here.

But even more ominous is how Coles greeted the only editor who now remains at the magazine, Jessica Knolls. Coles remarked to the staffer (as she trembled uncontrollably, we imagine), "[Former Cosmo editor Kate White] told me you're a rock star ... But Kate's gone, so it doesn't matter now." Haha. Oh.
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