Nat Hentoff, After 50 Years, Among Three Laid Off By 'Village Voice'

By: Joe Strupp Nat Hentoff, the legendary Village Voice columnist and past E&P columnist, was laid off from the Voice, along with two other employees, according to The New York Times.

Hentoff, whose writings for the alternative weekly spanned music and politics, had spent some 50 years at the paper, the Times reported.

?Nat Hentoff wrote liner notes for every great musician that I?ve ever loved, from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, and that?s not even what he?s been writing about for the last 30 years,? Tom Robbins, a Voice staff writer, told the Times.

In addition, Lynn Yaeger, a fashion writer who had worked at the paper for about 30 years, also was laid off, along with Chloe A. Hilliard, a two-year employee, the Times reported.

?Founded in 1955, The Village Voice was sold in 2005 to New Times Media, a Phoenix-based publisher of alternative weeklies that later changed its name to Village Voice Media,? the Times added. ?Calls for comment from Jim Larkin, the chief executive of Village Voice Media, and Tony Ortega, who was hired as Village Voice editor in 2007, were not returned.?

Hentoff told the Times that he learned about his layoff in a phone call with Ortega on Tuesday morning. ?I?m 83 and a half. You?d think they?d have let me go silently,? he said. ?Fortunately, I?ve never been more productive.?

Hentoff said he plans to continue his weekly column for United Media and will still contribute to The Wall Street Journal. His book ?At the Jazz Band Ball: 60 Years on the Jazz Scene,? is expected next year.

?With all due immodesty, I think it doesn?t help to lose me because people have told me they read The Voice not only for me, but certainly for me,? he noted.