The Superficial was a website devoted to

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

. It was founded on May 23, 2004, and quickly grew in popularity. The Superficial was a part of Anticlown Media, along with other sites such as IWatchStuff.com and Geekologie.com. The website was controversial due to its satirical, often derogatory content. The site was updated several times a day and had an

Alexa Alexa may refer to: Technology *Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture camera People *Alexa (name), a given name and ...

traffic ranking of 1,099 within the United States as of June 23, 2012. It was named one of the five best celebrity news websites by Steve Johnson of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. The Superficial was notable for emphasizing paparazzi celebrity photographs, and for its blunt, critical assessment of both celebrities' physical appearances and their questionable behavior. The site was originally written by Anticlown Media founder Karl Wang who later began experimenting with other writers as the anonymous "voice" of the site. In August 2007, Wang hired Mike Redmond, who became the longtime head writer. In 2009,

Buzz Media MRC II Distribution Company L.P., doing business as MRC (formerly Media Rights Capital), is an American film and television studio. Founded by Mordecai (Modi) Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, the company funds and produces film and television programming. ...

(later rebranded as SpinMedia) purchased The Superficial from Anticlown Media. Due to the site's success, Redmond hired Carmen Ribecca, who was referred to on the site by the nickname Photo Boy. Ribecca maintained "The Crap We Missed" photo feature and served as a backup writer. On December 23, 2016,

Celebuzz Celebuzz is an entertainment website launched in June 2008 that features breaking TV, movie, and entertainment news. Headquartered in Hollywood, CA, Celebuzz is known for featuring exclusive blogs written by A-list celebrities, particularly members ...

, The Frisky, and The Superficial were sold to

CPX Interactive Digital Remedy (formerly known as CPX Interactive) is a digital media execution and technology company based in New York City that has been in the tech-enabled market space for 20 years. Founder and CEO Michael Seiman launched the company as a ...

, which rebranded itself as Digital Remedy after the purchase. Digital Remedy operated The Superficial as a publication of their Nibble imprint. Three months after the purchase, Redmond and Ribecca simultaneously resigned from The Superficial on March 20, 2017. In January 2018, The Superficial became inactive during a short run by writer "Randy Cappuccino" who was not received well by the site's audience. The most recent update was posted on January 3, 2018. No statement regarding the site's status has been issued by The Superficial or its parent company Digital Remedy. On February 2, 2018, The Superficial homepage became a redirect to the entertainment website

. On April 26, 2018, Redmond reported on Twitter that all of The Superficial's content was "wiped" (or at least made unavailable) that day. He stated that he had used the site the night before to collect clips from his previous writing. The homepage and all former article links now redirect to the Celebuzz homepage.

References

External links

The Superficial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superficial Gossip blogs Online mass media companies of the United States Internet properties established in 2004