Karen Attiah: “The Washington Post Fired Me”

Former Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah this morning on Bluesky: “I’ve been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.” Until the Post’s relatively recent shift towards the right, Attiah had been a pivotal figure at the paper:

I am perhaps most proud of starting Washington Post’s Global Opinions section.

As its founding editor, I helped build a journalistic home for diverse writers from around the world, many of them censored for their views in their countries.

I hired Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2017, and worked with him closely until he was murdered by the Saudi regime in Istanbul — simply for expressing himself.

I put my safety on the line for years to push publicly for justice and accountability in his murder.

But now, she’s one of the dozens of people who have been fired or forced to resign over their comments in the aftermath of Kirk’s murder:

Now I am being silenced by the Washington Post for — *checks notes*

Lamenting America’s acceptance of apathy towards political violence and gun deaths — especially when the violence is encouraged and carried out by white men.

You can read what was so objectionable to the Post in Attiah’s newsletter, e.g.:

I wish I had hope for gun control and that I could believe “political violence has no place in this country”.

But we live in a country that accepts white children being massacred by gun violence.

Not just accepts, but worships violence.

She made only one direct reference to Kirk, quoting his own words:

“Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot”.

-Charlie Kirk

For this, the Post fired her:

And yet, 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. They rushed to fire me without even a conversation.

I’m very glad we’ve put this cancel culture business behind us and that we once again have free speech. 🇺🇸

Tags: journalism · Karen Attiah · politics · Washington Post