Karen Attiah, a prominent opinion columnist for The Washington Post, announced she was terminated last week following social media posts she made addressing gun violence and perceived racial double standards in the aftermath of the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
In a Substack post detailing her dismissal, Attiah explained that her posts expressed frustration with ongoing gun violence in the U.S. and criticized what she described as inaction from “white America” in addressing the issue, stating, “White America is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of guns in their country.” She also condemned political violence broadly, emphasizing her restraint in not celebrating Kirk’s death.
According to Attiah, The Washington Post deemed her social media activity “unacceptable” and “gross misconduct,” claiming it jeopardized the physical safety of colleagues—a characterization she strongly disputes.
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| Karen Attiah |
The firing comes amid significant changes in The Washington Post’s opinion section, which has been restructured following an edict from owner Jeff Bezos to prioritize “personal liberties and free markets.” This shift led to the departure of opinion editor David Shipley and several colleagues, with Adam O’Neal, a former Economist correspondent and Wall Street Journal editorial writer, taking over as editor.
The new direction has sparked debate about the paper’s editorial stance and its handling of controversial opinions.
Attiah’s termination reflects a broader trend of workplaces severing ties with employees over public statements related to Kirk’s assassination. For instance, Matthew Dowd, a political analyst at MSNBC, was fired after commenting on air that Kirk “pushed” hate speech. Right-wing influencers have reportedly encouraged online campaigns to identify and report individuals who appear to celebrate Kirk’s death, urging their employers to take action.
In her Substack post, Attiah clarified that she did not celebrate Kirk’s killing, instead focusing on condemning hatred and violence. She noted that her only direct reference to Kirk was a post quoting his own words about Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and former Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, in which he claimed they lacked the “brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.”
Attiah emphasized that her commentary was grounded in Kirk’s documented statements, not personal attacks.