Here’s an update to my earlier article on New York Magazine editor Abraham Riesman’s story about Chuck Johnson. Riesman said that in 2008, Chuck Johnson told him he had seen video of Barack Obama calling Deval Patrick the n-word, and that Chuck himself used the n-word repeatedly in a “blaccent.”

Following my publication of Riesman’s tweets, Johnson actually phoned Riesman to intimidate him, and deny he said anything about seeing a video. And this is a perfect example of what Chuck Johnson does — spews hate speech, then tries to intimidate people who call him out for it.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Chuck Johnson, who called me on my cell to clarify some things about the above tweetstorm

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

He says he worked at the NYSun for three weeks and has no memory of me. The conversation may have happened, though he disputes details.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

He made it emphatically clear that he NEVER thought Obama was going to lose the election. And that he only “strategically” uses the n-word.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

He recalls *reading* about Obama using the n-word in a conversation with Deval Patrick. Doesn’t recall a video.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

To clarify: Johnson said he *himself* only uses n-word “strategically,” for “taboo-busting” purposes. Doesn’t recall using it in that convo.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

Johnson made it emphatically clear that he would never insult Deval Patrick. Additionally: “He lived down the street from my parents.”

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

His 3wk NYSun job was amorphous, but he mostly did fact-checking for EIC: “The title i was putting on my resume was ‘Seth Lipsky’s bitch’”

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

Johnson says the conversation I recall may have been a “prank” he was pulling with a coworker we both knew. He said he liked to joke around.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

Johnson: “I do remember making a joke in the newsroom about Biden being assassination insurance, and everyone was like, ‘That’s not funny.’”

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

Though he denies using n-word with me, he did recall speaking ill of Sarah Palin in 08: “I think I called her a bitch once. Not to her face”

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

I won’t continue boring you. He asked me to publicly clarify my tweets, and I have. Thanks for calling, Chuck.

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

And in case you had any doubt about whether Chuck is still stalking LGF:

@markyzaguirre @adamsteinbaugh To be fair: he said he only saw my tweets after Little Green Footballs embedded them

— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) June 24, 2015

A postscript: Abraham Riesman said it was “a civil phone call,” but make no mistake — Chuck was enraged by his tweets. Here’s what he posted to his private Facebook account after he saw the LGF article:

Note the date on that Facebook post, by the way: June 19. I didn’t post Abraham Riesman’s tweets until June 23. So Chuck was actually lying to Riesman when he said he only saw the tweets after they were embedded at LGF.