Disgruntled politicos, envious bloggers, and rich Late Night Shots-ers, rejoice. Wonkette has been sold, and is no longer part of the stable of popular Gawker Media blogs. Gawker overlord Nick Denton has transfered ownership to current editor Ken Layne, citing low traffic and lacking advertising dollars as key reasons to unload. The site has been in upheaval for months now, experiencing a rotating menagerie of top editors and suspicious staff firings.

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Wonkette editor Ken Layne continues to take some amazing heat for firing Megan Carpentier, one of the most popular writers the site has seen since Ana Marie Cox left in 2006. Commenters have been outright rude to him on his own site (calling him “a sexist anti-gay pig” in one instance), and he’s received dozens of letters from readers expressing their outrage. In response to a query from one of Carpentier’s most ardent fans, Jason Cox, Layne wrote the following message:

Hello Jason,

There have been a half-dozen editors of Wonkette over its five years, plus scores of guest editors and contributors and fill-ins and try-outs and columnists and interns, etc. It’s just a website, part of a chain of websites employing a hundred-plus writers who come and go, myself included.

Megan was given the opportunity to say goodbye to Wonkette readers after her short stint as an associate editor, and exercised her own judgment in her farewell post. I certainly don’t speak for the company, but I can’t imagine a publisher using its own publications to provide continuous updates on a disgruntled ex-contractor.

Ken

Layne’s labeling Carpentier as “disgruntled” has not sat well with many who are still watching the admittedly insider-y media drama play out — especially with Carpentier herself, who says she is now “mad” and that she has tried to take the high road throughout.

“When I got tons of emails and comments asking why it happened, I contemplated what to say and how to say it, and went the high road, describing Ken as ‘not a dick’ and the decision as not motivated by sexism, Nick Denton or anything besides my ill-suitedness for the direction Ken wanted to take the site and even added that I agreed with his decision,” she shares on her personal blog. “When I was contacted for comment by HuffPo, the New York Times, Page 6 and BigHeadRob [Big Head DC was formerly published under that banner], I all but killed the story in every single instance when I could by saying that over and over again. I didn’t encourage my readers or supporters to engage in the boycott or drive up particular comment threads, suggested that people should simply do what they thought best and spent the vast majority of my time attempting to find a new job while continuing to do a little writing.”

Still, the Wonkette boycott has continued. The site’s numbers continue to slide. And many are questioning whether Layne made the appropriate decision. And why he made the decision he did. To date, he has not responded to requests for comment from Big Head DC.

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With much fanfare, including a widely-circulated item in Page 6, John Clarke Jr. was poised only a few short weeks ago to become the next fabled editor of the snarky Wonkette blog. It was the same “dream” job that had led to a career at TIME for Ana Marie Cox, the first Wonkette (the one without a penis, we think) — and Clarke seemed quite ready to transform his past unsuccessful career in politics into a new political blogging career. 

But, as we confirmed via a subtle change on the Gawker Media blog’s masthead this morning, Clarke has parted ways with owner Nick Denton in record time. Even David Lat stayed at the blog longer in 2006 when he exited after a few months of reportedly very little pay and even less prestige.

The change is not exactly shocking, as Big Head DC recently noted (twice) that Clarke had started freelancing for Radar, a chief competitor to Denton’s blogs. Within days of those revelations, Clarke was out at Wonkette. That a second editor has left Denton to work for Radar (the first was Alex Balk) surely must be a stinging slap in Denton’s face, especially considering the mass quitting of three of his top editors at Gawker in December. Each of those editors took jabs on the Gawker blog about Denton’s poor management style in the weeks prior to their departures.

Interestingly, Ken Layne, who had run the Wonkette blog with Alex Pareene for a majority of 2006 and 2007 - and who was asked to leave the blog by Denton when Clarke signed up - has temporarily filled the open position. Pareene left to join Gawker’s NYC-focused blog soon after Big Head DC revealed his involvement in a Washington sex scandal.

As for Clarke, problems started soon into his tenure. A source close to the situation says Clarke didn’t realize the amount of posting he’d be expected to do, nor did he understand the extent of Denton’s desire for fresh and original scoops to be broken via the blog. Denton’s demands for scoops similar to mainstream media outlets have become much more intense as of late as some of his blogs, including Wonkette, have lost audience share and ad revenue to competing outlets such as Big Head DC.

Related: Our Xmas Present to Wonkette: Words of Wisdom

BHDC Continues to Dramatically Outpace Wonkette

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Much to the chagrin of several recently laid-off AOL staffers, former Wonkette editor Ken Layne is now freelancing a column called “Outrage!” for AOL.com. Several permanent AOL staffers have been replaced by temp workers, like Layne. Gawker Media owner Nick Denton recently parted ways with the blogger due in part to low traffic at the Wonkette blog.

Earlier: Wonkette Editor Alex Pareene Run Out of Town After Ex-Pals Learn of His Affair With Married Woman…

And: New Wonkette Editor Bans Commenter Because He Thinks She’s Not Pretty

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Editor Ken Layne takes Ann Coulter to task today for saying something totally ludicrous about Jewish people. Which would normally be a pretty OK thing to do, if he doesn’t mind inadvertently shilling her new book, of course. Mind you, though, Layne is the same Wonkette editor who threatened a Jewish blogger with a libel suit earlier this year after the blogger said Wonkette was antisemitic. And Layne ultimately apologized.

Related: “Antisemitic Wonkette” Story Has Legs; DC Web Site Backs Off Plans To Sue Jewish Site For Libel

And: WTF? Wonkette Threatens to Sue Jewish Blog for Libel

And: Special Blogger Snafu: Huge Egg on Wonkette’s Face

And, Finally: Wonkette Editor Alex Pareene Run Out of Town After Ex-Pals Learn of His Affair With Married Woman… Threats to Reveal More of His Secrets Loom

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