Company CEO threatens to fire employee for talking to reporter

The CEO and cofounder of HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov, threatened to fire the popular host of its trivia show Scott Rogowsky for talking to a reporter from The Daily Beast.

Taylor Lorenz of The Daily Beast reports, “Because of his status as a rising celeb, The Daily Beast reached out to Rogowsky on Monday to write a lighthearted profile on his career and how his life has changed post-HQ fame.

“Scott agreed to the interview and chatted with The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon. The Daily Beast simultaneously reached out to the HQ public relations email account and Yusupov, one of HQ’s founders, letting him know of our plans to write a story about the show’s host.

“Several hours later, we received an email from Yusupov stating that HQ was ‘not making Scott available to discuss his involvement with HQ with the media/press.’ The reporter informed Yusupov that we had already interviewed Scott and that the story was nearing publication, but encouraged him to call us with any concerns.

“That’s when things went off the rails.

“Yusupov, the CEO of HQ, called the reporter’s cell phone and immediately raised his voice. He said that we were ‘completely unauthorized’ to write about Scott or HQ without his approval and that if we wrote any type of piece about Scott, he would lose his job.”

Read more here.