'Fake Steve' stops blogging as 'Real Dan'

SAN FRANCISCO - It was bad enough when Dan Lyons stopped sharing his musings about the technology scene in a hilarious satire of what Apple founder Steve Jobs would be like as a blogger.

Now there's more sad news for readers who savored his biting humor: The erstwhile "Fake Steve Jobs" has decided to stop blogging as the "Real Dan Lyons" after he was reprimanded by his bosses at Newsweek magazine for an acerbic remark about Yahoo.

The trouble started Monday evening when Lyons assailed Yahoo for giving him what he believed to be misleading information while he was writing a Newsweek piece last month.

Monday's announcement that Yahoo founder Jerry Yang had decided to step down as chief executive riled Lyons because Chairman Roy Bostock had assured him just a few weeks ago that Yang "is the right person to continue to lead Yahoo." That sounded different from this statement Bostock released Monday: "We all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level."

Citing his Bostock interview and other perceived deceptions, Lyons compared Yahoo's public relations team to dishonest bags of dung — only in much more colorful terms.

After Yahoo complained, his bosses agreed his language wasn't appropriate for a blog connected to Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post Co. Lyons decided to remove the post — as well as other potentially offensive entries — to avoid trouble with his new employer (he started writing for Newsweek in September).

Yahoo declined to comment on Lyons' criticism of the company or its decision to complain to his bosses.

Rather than risk another dustup, Lyons wrote in a Wednesday e-mail that he won't make any more blog posts. He stopped writing on "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs" in July.

Lyons played down his decision in his e-mail to The Associated Press.

"The bottom line is I don't want to jeopardize a job I like (and which feeds my hungry 3-year-old twins) over some blog that's just a funny little thing I'm doing in my spare time," Lyons wrote. "Or, to translate this into Fake Steve speak: I'm a coward and a whore who has totally sold out to The Man."

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