The ‘free speech’ social network Parler spiked in popularity late last year before losing its ride on Amazon Web Services hosting and listings in major app stores following the January 6th riots that attacked the US Capitol Building. Now, according to Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, its CEO John Matze is out, informing staffers in a memo that he has been terminated by board members at the behest of major Republican political donor Rebekah Mercer.

The app had been a preferred outlet for supporters of Donald Trump who saw it as an alternative to facing possible moderation on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Now it remains offline without any update of when it may resume service, or publicly announced plan to restore its app on iOS or Android. In his memo on Friday Matze said “I have worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running, but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands.” Presumably some other z-tier social site will soon be in need of a leader to fail to maintain it at a level that’s acceptable to any commercial partners or even its own financial backers.