The historic cultural magazine “Interview” has announced that it is shutting down after 50 years of chronicling Manhattan pop culture. The magazine founded by pop art giant Andy Warhol in 1969, is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The preceding months have been darkened with financial turmoil for the magazine following the resignation of their fashion director, accused of sexual misconduct.

The magazine has been seminal in surveying the art, fashion, entertainment and pop culture scenario of downtown New York. A billionaire art collector, Peter Brant, owned the magazine, which he acquired in 1989. The months that preceded the closing down of the magazine saw members of staff being locked out of the office building in repercussion to ongoing rent dispute. This was coupled with a lawsuit filed by one of their former editorial directors, over the issue of back pay, followed by resignation of another employee after sexual misconduct allegation. [The Guardian]

On May 21, many of Interview magazine employees announced the news of their recent unemployment via Twitter. They were notified in a united editorial meeting about the closing down of the magazine. [Refinery]

The former editorial director Fabien Baron along with wife Ludivine Poiblanc sued the magazine for more than $600,000, earlier this month, claiming that the magazine did not pay for their styling and consulting work. [Page Six]

Before this, there was another lawsuit filed by a former stylist and creative director Karl Templer. He left the magazine after he was not paid $280,000 and was name-checked in one of the articles exposing numerous top-industry personalities who were accused of sexual misconduct. [The Fashion.com]

Apart from the above lawsuits, the company also suffered after a former sales representative and associate publisher Jane Katz's alleged that the company owed her an amount of $230,000, alongside were the allegations of president Dan Ragone's who claims a due of $170,000. Many other editorial staff members and employees went on being unpaid from the company till they filed for bankruptcy. The incident wasn’t unprecedented and was not much of a shock for the employees. [Refinery]

Interview Inc. shared the following statement: “Today, Interview, Inc. (the “Company”), which owns and publishes Interview Magazine, and its two holding companies, sought protection under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The Company has been operating at a financial loss, and had been funding its losses and costs of its operation through loans obtained from its secured lender.  The losses, however, continued to mount, and the Company did not believe its financial condition would improve in the foreseeable future.”

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