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Reports have emerged that Apple CEO Tim Cook has stepped in to ensure that the company did not produce a TV show which is inspired by gossip outlet 骋补飞办别谤.听

Claims by The New York Times say that Cook, who is one of the the most powerful openly gay men in the world, was the least bit excited to hear that his company had picked up the TV show Scraper, which is听based on Gawker. In 2016, Gawker was sued听by PayPal co-founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel after a series of salacious articles, one of which outed Cook.

Branching into TV streaming with Apple TV+, the tech giant had gained the rights for听厂肠谤补辫别谤听from two former Gawker members – 听editor-in-chief Max Read and writer Cord Jefferson.

Cook was outed by Gawker six years before he was ready, which could be one of the reasons he wanted production of the show ceased.

At that time the then managing editor Owen Thomas, who is gay himself, published an article entitled, Is Apple COO Tim Cook Gay?听The article was听filled with speculation about Cook鈥檚 sexuality. At that time Cook was Apple鈥檚 Chief Operating Officer and the heir-apparent to founder Steve Jobs.

听In his article Thomas wrote 鈥淲hat is this 鈥� a Fortune profile, or a men-seeking-men personals ad in Craigslist?…听We dislike stereotypes as much as the next guy. But an intensely private bachelor in his 40s, with a Southern background? We鈥檇 be remiss in our duties as a gossip if we didn鈥檛 wonder if Cook was gay.鈥�

Then in 2011, when Cook took over as CEO from Jobs,听Gawker published a piece, this time by a different writer, which labelled Cook 鈥渢he most powerful gay man in America.鈥�

In 2014 Cook came out as gay publicly, but has never publicly spoken of the Gawker articles or what the impact, if any, they had on him or his family.听

Toward the end of Gawker’s听life听it became known for 鈥榦uting gay people鈥� which saw it come under fire and ultimately led to the end of the publication.听

听Republican billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in 2016 admitted that he had secretly and privately funded a hefty multi-million dollar lawsuit that forced the online news publication into bankruptcy as 鈥榬evenge鈥� for the publication covering his sexuality.听

At the time the articles were written in 2007, Thiel was openly gay in his private life but not publicly. As a consequence Thiel believed that one article by Owen Thomas 鈥榲iolated鈥� his privacy and subsequently set into motion a decade-long battle to push the publication out of business.听

Thiel ultimately succeeded after funding a lawsuit by wrestler Hulk Hogan, who was awarded massive damages after Gawker published a video of him having sex with a friend鈥檚 wife.