Three of TMZ boss Harvey Levin’s top lieutenants are now working for a rival site.
As Page Six first reported, Levin’s longtime No. 2, Mike Walters, quit to start his own operation.
On Monday, Walters announced he’s launched TheBlast.com, and we hear a raft of TMZ alums, including former top-tier staff Gary Trock and Daniel Goldblatt, are manning Walters’ new site.
“Mike, Gary and Daniel were Harvey’s senior, senior staff for many years,” said a source, while another said that all the TMZ vets have worked for at least one other publication since leaving the celebrity news site.
Founding TMZ staffer Goldblatt had served as executive director of digital programming and Trock — now managing editor of the Blast — served as a senior producer.
In a New York Times story on Wednesday announcing the launch, Walters said his team was made up of “journalists from places like People, the Daily Mail and MSNBC.”
He didn’t mention that the core is almost entirely staff who trained under Levin, including Walters’ sister Liz Walters, on-air reporter/senior producer Caitlyn Becker, producer Ryan Naumann, creative director Josh Wells, producer Erica Steiner, Melissa Parrelli, and publicist Carolyn Fenton.