The 47-year-old Taibbi has come under fire in recent days after an NPR journalist asked him during an interview about the memoir, “The Exile: Sex, Drugs and Libel in the New Russia,” which chronicles his time as the editor of an English language newspaper in Russia.

The book, co-written by Taibbi and another editor at the paper, Mark Ames, contains passages seemingly detailing mistreatment, sexual harassment and even assaults of their female staff and other young women.

Taibbi earlier this week posted a lengthy apology on Facebook, saying that “The Exile” was fictional and intended as a “giant satire” of young American expatriates living in Russia.