At the risk of sounding like too much of a fanboy: leaving it up would almost certainly be perceived as clickbait, since SB Nation would get the pageviews from everyone who went to hate read. Pulling id down = no monetary gain.

Yeah, there’s that. I guess I’m just surprised. Maybe it’s wishful thinking that he just saw an early draft and then trusted Stout to see it through (and to listen to Bergeron’s feedback).

Me too—and I’m not sure from the article that he ever read anything past an early draft. It would be helpful to know if he just looked over an outline after the pitch or if he read a full draft.

Did he read it though? It isn’t clear from the story whether or not he actually did read the article.