A screen shot of the Defense Maven / Blue Lives Matter website. (DefenseMaven.io Image)

Maven, the Seattle-based media company that publishes Sports Illustrated, among other magazines, is hearing from employees upset about a pro-police website that is part of the company’s portfolio.

The Daily Beast reported on Friday that Maven staffers want the plug pulled on the site called Defense Maven, which is also known as Blue Lives Matter. The site covers police-related news and is run entirely by active, former, and retired law enforcement officers and their families, according to its about page.

In the midst of nationwide protests calling for police reform in the wake of the killing of a black man by a white officer in Minneapolis, Maven employees are reportedly upset about some of the content and comments on the Blue Lives Matter site.

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According to the Daily Beast and accounts from staffers at an all-hands meeting last week, Maven CEO James Heckman initially defended the site as a way to promote open dialogue and empower “both sides of hot issues.” But he later reportedly said he would seek approval from the company board to remove Blue Lives Matter from the Maven platform.

Maven launched in 2017 and is led by Heckman, the Rivals.com founder and former Yahoo executive. Maven describes itself as “a shared digital publishing, advertising and distribution platform.”

A publicly traded company, Maven has a coalition of more than 300 brands, including History, Maxim, Yoga Journal, SKI Magazine, and others. It purchased finance media company TheStreet in 2019.

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