Quote:“I was a small-time journalist who made a mistake,” Fein said via email; the paper declined to comment first.

On Friday, Cernovich tweeted that he had received a direct message from Fein, which called him a “sack of s—” and expressed his hope for Cernovich’s execution “when Putin annexes the US.”

The Los Angeles Times on Friday parted ways with freelancer Perry Fein, who sent conservative provocateur Mike Cernovich a profanity-laced direct message over Twitter.

“The direct message to Mike Cernovich was sent by a freelance writer who recently contributed to community publications owned by the Los Angeles Times. The Times requires freelancers to uphold the same standards of professionalism as members of the staff,” the Times said in a tweet.

“These actions violated those professional standards and we are ending our relationship with the freelancer.”