Readers were outraged Monday over The Washington Post's "shameful" decision to fire its last full-time Black columnist over her social media posts following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Karen Attiah, 39, alleged in her Substack that the Jeff Bezos-owned publication “rushed to fire me without even a conversation" and deemed her posts on Bluesky as "unacceptable," "gross misconduct," and endangering the physical safety of her colleagues. She rejected the claims as false.
"I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job," she wrote in her Substack, The Golden Hour.
Users on X and Bluesky responded to The Post's decision, criticizing the paper's move.
"The Washington Post, of Washington D.C. fame, no longer has a Black columnist because the last remaining one they had wasn't sufficiently deferential to the foaming fake outrage mob going after people contextualizing Charlie Kirk's actual politics," podcaster and writer Adam Johnson wrote via X.
"So glad I cancelled my Post subscription a while back. These editors have no backbone at all. What, these days, is a legitimate criticism of right-wing political figures? Anyone justifying the shooting or calling for violence should be fired. Otherwise, let the people speak," historian and professor James Stocker wrote via X.
"Another shameful act by @washingtonpost Another strike against free speech," professor Tera Hunter wrote on X.
"Washington Post firing people just for posting what Kirk has said," content creator Kay And Skittles wrote on X.
"So many white men using outrage at Kirk's death as a shield to happily wield the beliefs Kirk held about Black people," Jaime Omar Yassin of the Oakland Observer wrote on X.
"If you value free speech & Democracy it’s past time to cancel your Washington Post subscription," ProdigalHoosier wrote on Bluesky.
"The only good thing I've gotten from having a Washington Post subscription for so long is that I could cancel it after they fired Karen Attiah for having the gall to be a Black woman criticizing white people," @uhhhclem.bsky.social wrote via Bluesky.
"Shameful cancel culture," economist Tony Annett wrote via X.