[5] Gerson left the site in May 2008 to become the Women's Editor for the Polo Ralph Lauren website;[8] Tkacik departed in August 2008 to work at Gawker.com, after briefly accepting and then rescinding a job offer from Radar.

The resignations were reportedly related to a "hostile work environment" created by G/O's management and the new deputy editorial director Lea Goldman.

[25] On November 9, 2023, G/O Media suspended the publication of Jezebel and laid off 23 editorial staffers as part of wider restructuring, having failed to find a buyer for the site.

[2][26] G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller stated that their "business model and the audiences we serve across our network did not align with Jezebel's" and that advertisers had become "more cautious about spending".

[4][32] Founding editor Anna Holmes says she sought to create a counterpart to women's print magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.

[1][6] According to Jordan Michael Smith, Holmes "hated [Glamour's] worship of luxury, the lack of racial diversity, and the shallowness of women’s publications generally".

"[34] Jezebel's format influenced other women-focused websites, including Slate magazine's Double X, xoJane, The Hairpin, and The Frisky.

[6] Media coverage of the Faith Hill photo controversy included discussion and interviews on NBC's Today show and in several other publications.

[45] In 2010, Jezebel received widespread media coverage when it criticized The Daily Show for its treatment of women writers and correspondents.

In 2012, Jezebel faced criticism when it published screen shots of a video depicting a rape and some users threatened to boycott the site.

[48] Later, in November 2012, Jezebel was criticized for publicizing the names of teenagers who posted racist tweets in response to Barack Obama's re-election.

[49] The website has been criticized at times for how it handles race issues, including its selection in July 2014 of a white woman as the new editor-in-chief over a black candidate who had been with the site since its founding.

[50][51] In 2014, Jezebel writers accused the company Gawker Media of failing to address a campaign of harassment against its staff and readers, which included rape-themed images and threats of violence.

In 2021, they posted an article asking why the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie did not feature notable female fighting character Chun-Li.