Wikifeet Celebrity Laura Bassett to Helm Jezebel

Staffers at Jezebel, the supposedly feminist website started by ex-Gawker owner Nick Denton, received an email Tuesday morning announcing their new Editor-in-Chief: Laura Bassett, one of the few journalists to have a profile on foot fetish website, Wikifeet.

Bassett, who had not yet formally announced the news, listed the new gig in her Twitter bio, which she updated to read “Incoming editor-in-chief @jezebel.” She later confirmed the promotion on Twitter:

Bassett has written a lot of things, which the email details at length:

But the bio overlooks one of Bassett’s most extreme investigative works, in the sense of extremity — i.e. this Q&A in The Cut last spring, in which she interviewed Robert Hamilton, the 58-year-old New Jersey salesman who maintained her Wikifeet profile. Here’s what Hamilton said about Basset’s barking dogs:

I looked on Instagram and saw you on there and you had a lot of barefoot pictures, and I just followed you, that was all. I also like your dog. I like Pedro, he’s cool. Your feet are quite beautiful, by the way...I like the painted toes. I like an arch, the more pronounced the better. I’m kinda weird with the toes, I like a rounded big toe. If it’s more square it’s okay, but the rounded is better. I definitely like the soles. But I like the arches, that gets you turned on.

Bassett replaces Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, who announced her departure to write a book last month. Previous editors of Jezebel include Jessica Coen, Anna Holmes, Emma Carmichael, and Koa Beck, who left after 10 months.

The announcement also noted new editors at other outlets owned by Jezebel’s parent company, G/O Media (formerly Gawker Media). Former L.A. Business Journal head Scott Robson will take over as Editor-in-Chief of the AV Club; David Ewalt of the Wall Street Journal, will be top editor at Gizmodo. He wrote a book about Dungeons and Dragons.