Erica Rucker was the editor-in-chief at LEO Weekly until Jan. 9.
She told LPM News that the day prior Big Lou Holdings owner Chris Keating instructed her, via email, to fire her digital media editor.
LEO Weekly’s content staff was previously made up of Rucker, a digital editor and one staff writer.
Rucker followed through with Keating's request Jan. 8, only to find herself locked out of LEO email and the website later that day.
“I called [Keating] like ‘Chris, I don’t know what’s going on,” Rucker said. “I was like ‘you know, I am also out of LEO or you’re shuttering LEO, those are my two assumptions.’”
Rucker said her calls to Keating went unanswered that day. The next morning, Keating called to tell her that she was being fired and he planned to take LEO in a different direction.
“I was like ‘In case you don’t know, there’s a paper publication due on Monday. And there is nobody to help you get that together,’” Rucker said.
She said she reminded Keating of the paper's contractual obligation with advertisers and wished him luck going forward.
LEO news writer Caleb Stultz confirmed to LPM that LEO is still operating and that he is the only full-time staffer writing news content.
LEO has used and will continue to use freelance writers to subsidize content. The alt-weekly was founded in 1990 by John Yarmuth, who went on to become a U.S. Representative, and had big name investors like longtime U of L men’s basketball head coach Denny Crum. Aaron Yarmuth, John Yarmuth’s son, bought the publication in 2014 and laid off four employees soon after.
LPM News reached out for comment from Big Lou Holdings but did not hear back by deadline.
Big Lou Holdings took ownership of LEO Weekly in Aug. 2023, before that it was owned by Euclid Media, where Keating previously worked as Chief Operating Officer.
When Euclid split up, Keating created Big Lou Holdings and bought several alt-publications similar to LEO in Detroit, Cincinnati and Keating’s home-base of St. Louis.
Shuttering operations at these publications appear to be a pattern for Big Lou Holdings.
Two St. Louis publications — Riverfront Times and Sauce — had sweeping layoffs that left the publications with little to no staff.
In the case of the Riverfront Times, Big Lou Holdings sold the publication to a company that reportedly plans to use the site to publish articles about OnlyFans.
“For a while now, across the country, we’ve seen venture capitalists gobble up storied indie publications and try to leverage them into strange little money-making machines. Some of the most famous alt-weeklies in the country are now sponsored content factories,” former LEO editor-in-chief Scott Recker told LPM via email. “Something like that happening to LEO would be devastating. LEO has taken its share of lumps over the years, and had its ups and downs, but a lot of passionate people always stepped up.”
Recker held the editor-in-chief position before Rucker. He called her firing “disgraceful.”
“LEO and alt-media in general is so important because it's so unique. Its core identity is tapping into topics and scenes that sometimes get overlooked,” Recker said. “Over the years, great journalists, thinkers, photographers and other creatives helped build it, maintain it, change it and keep it smart, interesting and, maybe most importantly, a bit weird.”
When Big Lou Holdings took over at LEO Weekly, Keating was quoted saying, “LEO has a long tradition of excellence, and I plan to continue that. Whether it’s great restaurant criticism or a deeply reported story that explains the most important issues facing our communities, people rely on these publications. I intend to make sure they not only survive but thrive in this new era.”
Rucker said she isn’t sure what LEO’s future holds.
“[Keating] doesn’t have any actual plan,” Rucker said. “I gave him, when he asked, ‘What do you envision for LEO?’ I wrote a very detailed proposal of this is the LEO I wanted to see.”
Rucker said her plan included getting back to the arts and editorial coverage that is at the roots of the publication.
“What really made LEO important to the community,” Rucker said. “I still feel like that’s something that’s missing from the community. We don’t have enough art writers.”
LEO Weekly joins other Louisville news outlets that have seen repeated downsizing in editorial staffing and restructuring.
The Courier Journal laid off seven staffers in 2014. The publication has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and buyouts since then, including in 2017, 2020 and 2022. Staffers unionized in 2022.
Nonprofit newsroom Insider Louisville shut down publishing in August 2019 citing operation costs too great to handle.
Louisville Public Media, as well, laid off eight staff members, including one editor, in June 2024.
Rucker said she doesn’t plan to leave Louisville’s art writing space.
“I am going to continue writing,” Rucker said. “I’m gonna try to provide a place for the writers who worked with LEO.”
LEO Weekly’s next print magazine is scheduled for release Friday Jan. 17.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect when Aaron Yarmuth led the publication and to add additional information.
