This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and the Nashville Scene. The Nashville Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news. Visit nashvillebanner.com for more information.
Jason Steen, the proprietor of Scoop Nashville, died Friday night at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. He was 44, and the cause was heart failure. Steen had received a heart replacement in 2017.
Through Scoop Nashville, Steen practiced a brand of journalism that was scorned by many, relying on public records, social media and internet rumor to produce stories that were often sensational and exploitative. A current sample of recent items on the site includes overdoses, drunk and disorderly behavior on Lower Broadway, domestic disturbances, theft and assault.
Well-connected with numerous law enforcement sources, Steen ran a site that was watched by many traditional journalists, even those who turned up their noses at his style. His site was one of the first to break the news that country music star Morgan Wallen threw a stool from a rooftop bar and almost injured a police officer.
Scoop’s social media feed became a destination for police chases, street racing videos and, of course, mugshots. Steen illustrated many of his site and social media posts with the mugshots of the newly arrested, often obtained by public records requests. The use of a mugshot, while legal, made Steen the target of legal and personal threats because the pictures would outlive whatever criminal charges they were attached to. For several years, Steen ran a pay-for-play operation that allowed people to remove stories and mugshots for a fee.
Though Scoop was popular — at its pre-pandemic height, Steen's network of sites included most of the counties surrounding Nashville and a mugshot site in Texas — it wasn’t always a financial success. Steen filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after facing multiple lawsuits the year before for not paying his employees.
His death divided many on social media, with some cheering the news and others, including some current and former councilmembers, lamenting his loss.
“Remember Steen as he lived: He extorted people, stole wages from his employees, got innocent people fired, put trans people and abuse victims at risk by posting their name-change petitions, and paid children to film school fights,” said attorney Sarah Martin. “And yes, sometimes he broke important stories.”
Brian Sullivan, a former candidate for Metro Council, tangled with Steen for years. He appealed online for people to show mercy in Steen’s passing: “Most people I know, at some point, have been personally victimized by Jason Steen, myself included. In our last breath, we all call out for our mother and reach for someone’s hand. Had I been there, I would still have offered mine."
Though Steen was openly gay, he had an often contentious relationship with some members of the LGBTQ community. He often posted on social media about Nashvillians, sometimes closeted, who he found on sites like Grindr.
“I wanted to put something out because in our community, in the gay community, he is sort of known as this instigator who has caused people a lot of pain,” Sullivan tells the Nashville Banner.
Regardless, Steen likely would have relished the attention his passing generated.
“His sister said today, ‘Mom, he would have loved this,’” says Debbie Wallace, his mother, although she added that some of the vitriol aimed at her son was “a little hard to take.”
Steen is survived by his mother, father, three sisters, a brother and five cats. Visitation will be at the Macon County Memorial Gardens on Monday and burial will be held on Tuesday.
