When push leads to shove
the shoved leave Vogue

Mad Dog receives wrist slap for assault

By Amy Klein

         Apologize or resign?
         That wasn't the choice given to Richard "Mad Dog" Beckman, the Vogue publisher who allegedly broke employee Carol Matthews' cheekbone while out partying several months back.
     Beckman simply had to apologize and get counseling. It is Matthews, the West Coast ad director, who has taken the second half of that clause and quit, as part of a settlement that was reached this week between Beckman, Matthews and the brass of Conde Nast over the incident.
       Matthews leaves the magazine facially fractured but financially fattened.
         As the unfortunate story goes, Beckman and Matthews were out one June night in New York with other Conde Nast staffers when Beckman decided he'd like to see what it would be like to witness two women kissing. He thereupon shoved Matthews' face into that of Emily Jahncke Davis, Vogue's international fashion director, breaking Matthews' cheekbone.
         Matthews, who reportedly underwent extensive reconstructive surgery, was more than a bit miffed at Beckman, who has a reputation for crudeness and roughhousing. She threatened to sue Beckman, the magazine and parent Conde Nast  for $10 million.
      CN settled, offering Matthews a sum pegged as being in the seven figures. (Read here over $1 million.)
       Beckman agreed to make a round of apologies and to seek counseling to him cope with his various personality quirks.
        One must wonder, though, is that how it works at CondeNast? Elsewhere people get fired for what Beckman did. But even as the story broke, and reports came out about Beckman's troubling behavior toward others, few thought he would lose his job, largely because he's a crackerjack salesman who makes big dollars for the company.  (He's tagged Mad Dog for his aggressiveness as a salesman, though it could certainly apply to other areas of his life.)
      Take a look at the timing. The incident occurred in
June, more than three months ago. Even with a threatened lawsuit hanging in the air no public apology or offer to seek counseling were forthcoming from Beckman.
        Only when the story broke did Conde Nast move swiftly to clean up the mess.
     Conde Nast won't say whether they pushed for Matthew's departure as part of the settlement.
   "Carol Matthews has decided to resign," says the tight-lipped Maurie Perl, Conde Nast's senior vp for communications. The Beckman affair "has been resolved amicably," she told Media Life.
      Amicably? For Beckman, definitely. Conde Nast's statement after the settlement said, "Richard Beckman acknowledges some inappropriate behavior on his part and is seeking counseling to address that issue."

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  -Amy Klein is a writer living in New York.