Columnist Karen Attiah is FIRED by Washington Post over ‘white men’ post after Charlie Kirk murder
Prominent opinion columnist and editor Karen Attiah has been fired from the Washington Post over a series of posts she wrote following the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Attiah, 39, said she was fired last week over the ‘unacceptable social media posts’ she issued in the wake of the conservative commentator’s assassination in Utah.
One of the posts in question, all written on Bluesky, read: ‘Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.’
Another post said: ‘Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is…. not the same as violence.’
The journalist revealed her firing in a lengthy post on Substack on Monday, which she titled – ‘The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.’
‘The Post accused my measured Bluesky posts of being “unacceptable,” “gross misconduct” and of endangering the physical safety of colleagues — charges without evidence, which I reject completely as false,’ Attiah wrote.
‘They rushed to fire me without even a conversation. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.’
Karen Attiah has been fired from the Washington Post over a series of posts she wrote following the murder of Charlie Kirk
The 31-year-old conservative activist was debating with students at Utah Valley University on Wednesday when he was shot in the neck
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on Wednesday during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University in Orem. He was 31.
A 22-year-old Utah native named Tyler Robinson has been arrested for the killing. He’s due in court on Tuesday.
In her essay, the journalist said the reason for her firing was ‘Speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns.’
‘As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction,’ Attiah wrote.
‘Now, I am the one being silenced – for doing my job.’
Attiah went on to say that she went on social media after Kirk’s murder to express ‘sadness and fear for America’ and condemn America’s acceptance of political violence.
She noted that her most shared post on BlueSky following Kirk’s death read: ‘For everyone saying political violence has no place in this country… Remember two Democratic legislators were shot in Minnesota just this year. And America shrugged and moved on.’
Explaining the post, Attiah wrote on Substack: ‘I pointed to the familiar pattern of America shrugging off gun deaths, and giving compassion for white men who commit and espouse political violence. This cycle has been documented for years. Nothing I said was new or false or disparaging— it is descriptive, and supported by data.’
Attiah said she only directly referenced Kirk once, when she shared one of his quotes: ‘Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.’
Attiah is no stranger to controversy over her social media posts.
She was previously in hot water in 2021 after saying white women were ‘lucky’ that black people are ‘just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge.’