Gawker's new West Coast editor announces he's black

Cord Jefferson, who started Monday as the West Coast editor for the Gawker gossip and blog empire, penned an opening greeting post that says he's "the first California staffer since Seth Abramovitch left in January. I'm also the first staffer (on record) to watch hardcore pornography in Fred Willard's favorite Hollywood peep show." Oh, and he's black.

One other note: I'm going to be only the second black person with a full-time salary at Gawker in its nearly 10-year history (the first is Caity Weaver, who is half black). I'm actually pretty excited about that fact, and I know from talking to a few of my new colleagues that they are, also. I don't think this means you should expect Gawker to drastically change its overall coverage and voice, but I do think it's important to acknowledge that the people who complained about the Gawker masthead's dearth of color weren't complaining to deaf ears. And now that I'm here, I'm not going to stop until this place is as black as Obama's cabinet, which is to say just a little bit more black.

There are links contained in that passage, over at his site. Here's also his bio.