A Washington Post political reporter has been suspended after he retweeted a ‘sexist’ joke that read ‘All the girls are bi’. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.
David Weigel has been suspended for a month without pay after retweeting YouTuber Cam Harless, CNN reported.
The suspension is the latest in the ongoing drama at the Post that forced Editor-in-Chief Sally Buzbee to send out a memo on Sunday reminding staff members “to treat each other with respect and kindness both in the newsroom and online.” .
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo jumped at the chance to criticize the newspaper over the weekend, slamming it for a report he made on it last year. At the end of the Twitter thread, he wrote: “Democracy dies when the media lies”.
Musk responded to the tweet with, “There are still great journalists in WaPo, but the trend is super bad.”
This week, the Washington Post suspended political journalist David Weigel for a month without pay after he retweeted a ‘sexist’ joke.
Weigel retweeted a “sexist” Cam Harless joke that read, “All girls are bi.” You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual. He has since been suspended
Elon Musk wrote that the Washington Post still has great reporters but the “trend is super bad” in a tweet on Monday in response to Christopher Rufo, who criticized the paper.
Musk replied: “There are still great journalists in WaPo, but the trend is super bad”
Weigel’s retweet was brought to light by his colleague Felicia Sonmez who tweeted that it is “fantastic to work in a medium where retweets like this are allowed”.
Sonmez then confronted Weigel on the company’s Slack channel, according to CNN, tagged him and wrote “I’m sorry but what is this?”
Several people joined in the discussion on Slack, prompting national editor Matea Gold to chime in: “I just want to assure you that The Post is committed to maintaining a respectful workplace for everyone. We do not tolerate degrading language or actions.
Kris Coratti, chief spokesperson for The Post, released a statement which read: “Editors made it clear to staff that the tweet was objectionable and degrading language or actions like this will not be tolerated. ”
Weigel apologized for the retweet, saying he “didn’t mean to cause any harm.”
But tension remains at the Washington Post, which is evident in Twitter feuds between employees.
Washington Post reporter Jose A. Del Real responded to Sonmez’s initial tweet, saying Weigel’s tweet was “terrible and unacceptable, but rallying the internet to attack him for a mistake he made solves nothing.” “. We are all wrong in one way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion.
Sonmez replied, “exposing sexism is not ‘cruelty,’ but something that is ‘absolutely necessary.’
The two continued their feud until Del Real temporarily disabled his account. He reactivated it on Sunday after Sally Buzbee, editor of The Post, sent a note to staff “to treat each other with respect and kindness both in the newsroom and online”.
“The Washington Post is committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment free from harassment, discrimination or prejudice of any kind,” Buzbee wrote. “When issues arise, please raise them with management or human resources and we will address them quickly and firmly.”
Following the statement, Del Real then tweeted that he had faced “a series of relentless attacks intended to tarnish my professional and personal reputation”.
Sonmez accused him of making “false accusations and misdescriptions” in his statement.
Breanna Muir, video technician for the Post, later responded to Buzbee’s email with a tweet that showed video team leader Micah Gelman once misidentified her as “Breanna Taylor.” .
“If The Washington Post is committed to an inclusive and respectful environment free from harassment, discrimination, or bias of any kind, then can someone help me understand Micah Gelman’s tweets/rts and David Weigel?” Muir tweeted.
“These tweets/rts not only hurt the women in our newsroom, but make it extremely difficult to do our best,” Muir wrote. “Ultimately, it creates a toxic work environment.”
Gelman previously apologized to Muir for misidentifying her, CNN reported. A statement was also released by the company stating that Gelman “has apologized both publicly and privately for his error.”
Rufo had slammed the paper for a report it made about him last year and referred to the latest drama surrounding tech columnist Taylor Lorenz
Rufo’s Twitter feed caught the attention of Musk who seemed to agree with him
Amid the ongoing drama at the Post, Rufo slammed the newspaper on Sunday for a report it did on him last year and addressed the latest drama surrounding tech columnist Taylor Lorenz.
“Taylor Lorenz is the rule, not the exception, at The Washington Post,” Rufo wrote on Twitter Sunday.
“Last year the newspaper ran a bestselling story against me and had to retract or add six full paragraphs, admit to fabricating a timeline and overturn a key accusation, which I have proven to be false.”
“The editors then tried to hide their mistakes with furtive edits and a completely misleading ‘clarification.’ The Washington Post writers are sinister, talentless mercenaries for the regime and have polluted a once-respected newspaper with slander, propaganda and lies.
“Democracy dies when the media lies,” he added.
Musk seemed to agree with Rufo with his response that “the trend is super bad.”
Musk responded to Rufo’s tweet on Monday, saying “the trend is super bad”
Lorenz, an internet culture columnist for the Washington Post, was forced to backtrack on a claim that she was being “relentlessly harassed” by a Drudge Report editor – just hours after she made the accusation in May.
She tweeted that a Drudge Report editor “has been calling and texting me relentlessly for two weeks.”
She also wrote that the editor then “called my personal cell phone number, yelled at me when I asked him to leave me alone, and said he would” blast my name all over Drudge Report until ‘to ruin my career,’ in now-deleted tweets, according to FOX News.
But when Oliver Darcy, media editor for CNN, contacted founder Matt Drudge, he said he “never contacted her and no one was associated with Drudge Report.”
He added that he sent Lorenz an email asking for a correction – and when she received the request, she deleted her tweets about the alleged harassment and posted a clarification.
“For anyone who saw my post about this man claiming to be from Drudge calling me non-stop, good news: I heard of Matt Drudge and this man has no power over Drudge.
“He claims to be an internet publisher but he’s not,” she tweeted, adding, “Sorry to disappoint everyone saying Drudge is based.”
Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, left, had accused a Drudge Report editor of harassing her online, but after founder Matt Drudge, right, demanded a correction, she deleted her tweets .
In a statement from The Washington Post, a spokesperson clarified, “Taylor has been contacted multiple times by someone claiming to be a Drudge editor.
“As soon as she learned the person had no connection to the Drudge report, she deleted the original tweet and wrote a tweet apologizing for her comment.
The newspaper was forced to publish further corrections last week when Lorenz’s story about the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard lawsuit falsely claimed she reached out to two YouTubers for comment, Fox News reported.
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