"[4][5][6] Previously, he was the founding editor-in-chief of VICE News, and in 2013 became one of the first Americans to meet Kim Jong Un when he led the team that brought Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters to North Korea.
"[14] Mojica had originally dropped out of college to become the front man of The Fighters, a punk rock band he formed with high school friends.
[17][18][16][19] In 2009, Mojica became a producer and correspondent for The Listening Post, a weekly media review and analysis program airing on Al Jazeera English.
[23][24] Over time the circle of contributors grew to include such established underground and indie cartoonists Jay Lynch, Grass Green, Terry Laban, Carole Sobocinski, Matt Feazell,[25] Reed Waller,[26] and Jim Siergy.
[26][27] In 1992, while attending Southern Illinois University, Mojica started to expand Rocco's scope beyond comics with the publication of pop culture-oriented zine called No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service.
[28] In 1994, Mojica organized a team of volunteers to compile info about DIY punk bands, venues, record labels, and zines when Rocco Publishing teamed up with Maximum Rocknroll to publish the third edition of resource guide Book Your Own Fuckin’ Life, which has been called “the DIY publication that kept bands on the road for decades".
[38] The New York Times media critic David Carr wrote at the time: "Vice gained a share of infamy by getting access to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the notoriously secretive country he leads through a caper involving Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters, a stunt that drew attention, invective and clicks.
[citation needed] At one point Rodman stood up at the banquet and told Kim, “Sir, you have a friend for life.”[citation needed] The New Yorker went on to say that in the context of "recent reports of cannibalism among a starving population, those remarks and current headline on the Vice Web site that ‘North Korea has a friend in Dennis Rodman and Vice’ seem a bit, well, tasteless.”[39] Mojica has called such criticism "sanctimonious.
"[43] Mojica, Duffy, and the others were criticized on social media and on news sites for their tweets and comments praising the celebration, in lieu of the fact that millions of North Koreans have died of starvation.
[44] New York magazine commented: "Aside from the brutal slave-labor camps, the routine rape and torture of political prisoners, mass starvation extreme enough to induce episodes of cannibalism... North Korea sounds like a blast!
"[46] The trip was severely criticized by the Obama administration, leading White House press secretary Jay Carney to say that, "Instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned, and denied their human rights.
One media critic noted that "the trailer for the forthcoming news channel gives a clear look at what Vice is interested in: unrest, conflict, revolution, persecution.
At a panel discussion at NYU, Mojica said, "I can certainly say that there is no collusion between Vice News and the Islamic State as much as there is a bit of sparring and each of us probably trying to get something different out of [the experience]... [B]ut that was a very unique case and it comes with, of course, conditions in order to get in and get out with your life.
[54] Kevin Sutcliffe, who headed Vice's programming in Europe, told The Huffington Post that its filmmakers "hadn't been able to travel freely during his reporting trip inside Syria and [were] always accompanied by a minder from the Islamic State.
"[54] In November 2017, Vice Media formally suspended Mojica pending an investigation of allegations into sexual harassment made against him by several past and current employees.
[12] Several other women came forward to allege that Mojica, as their supervisor, dismissed their claims of sexual harassment by other men in the company, and were told they had to tolerate such behavior to keep their own jobs.
[13] In August 2018, Mojica, with Trace Crutchfield, co-founded IXNAY PAC,[59] an independent expenditures-only anti-Trump political action committee.
[63][64][65] Guests have included former Trump administration official Anthony Scaramucci, former member of the Weather Underground Bill Ayers,[66] and Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra.