Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine Has Folded

The magazine was facing lawsuits claiming unpaid wages and allegations of sexual misconduct.

Interview, the nearly 50-year-old art magazine started by Andy Warhol and British journalist John Wilcock, has folded.

Staffers, both former and recent, shared the news Monday morning on Twitter, but the exact reason for the closure is still murky.

Interview had gone through several overhauls since its birth, with the most drastic shift happening after Warhol’s death in 1987. It was purchased by billionaire Peter Brant from Warhol’s estate in 1989 and most recently “relaunched” under co-editorial directors Fabien Baron and Glenn O’Brien in 2008.

The New York Observer reported Monday that a source said the publication was in Chapter 7 bankruptcy and “liquidating its assets.”

Interview closes its doors amid a whirlwind of controversy in the last few weeks. The magazine was recently slapped with a $600,000 lawsuit from Baron and Baron’s wife, stylist Ludivine Poiblanc. Baron, who resigned in April, contends the magazine owes him “over $500,000 from invoices between 2015 and 2018” as well as another $66,000 for Poiblanc for her work, according to Page Six.

Baron and Poiblanc are just two of those claiming Interview owes them money.

Meanwhile, allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct have been leveled against former creative director Karl Templer. He also left the publication in April, two months after an explosive Boston Globe report accused him of acting very inappropriately with three female models. They talked of Templer “yanking their breasts, touching their crotches, or aggressively pulling down their underwear without asking them during shoots.” Templer denies the allegations.

Despite the latest mayhem, the magazine leaves a far-reaching legacy. Twitter users from all over shared their thoughts on Interview’s closure:

Representatives for Interview did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

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