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Vice Media cleans up for Joe Biden visit | Capital New York

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/02/8561609/vice-media-cleans-joe-biden-visit

Vice Media cleans up for Joe Biden visit

Vice president Joe Biden visited
<https://news.vice.com/article/joe-biden-visits-vice-medias-brooklyn-headquarters>
Vice Media's Brooklyn campus this morning, to speak briefly to the
company's employees and sit down for an interview with chief executive
Shane Smith.

But, before that could happen, Vice brass wanted to ensure that Biden—and
his staff—would visit a clean, family-friendly office space, and one ready
for inspection.

In a Tuesday email to staff warning of an unnamed "V.I.P." visitor,
provided by a Vice source to Capital on the condition of anonymity, Vice
P.R. said: "In preparation for the visit, our premises will be thoroughly
inspected overnight. Please take home TONIGHT any personal items that could
be considered inappropriate (think airport TSA rules as the appropriate
guidelines, particularly anything that could be construed as a weapon). All
drawers, cabinets and lockers must be left open."

The edict seems to have worked, according to another staffer we contacted
at the cool-kids media company.
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"The pair of rhinestone studded lucha libre underpants hanging over the
copy machine were taken down," Vice Sports contributing editor David Roth
told Capital.

During Biden's remarks, Roth said: "There was some trepidation among a
bunch of my co-workers about cheering for him, in the understanding that
it's unseemly for journalists to do that."

But, he added: "I clapped, myself. I like Joe Biden, bankruptcy bill
notwithstanding."

Tuesday's memo to staff also cautioned staff to hold off on any social
media posts about Biden's visit "until further direction."

*Update: *Dan Meyer, who serves as equipment manager for Vice Media Group,
emailed with a clarification about the item of clothing taken down prior to
Biden's visit. "The underwear was not in fact lucha libre underwear," he
said. "They were actually some custom Elvis undies for a photoshoot we did
<http://www.vice.com/read/part-time-hunks-0000456-v20n01> with Elvis
impersonators."
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Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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