Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed reacts after his victory in the US midterm elections, during an Election Night rally, in Detroit, Michigan, US, November 4, 2026. REUTERS/Brian Snyder TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Bari Weiss' outlet The Free Press is facing a brutal backlash after being forced to walk back one of its viral posts.
On Friday, The Free Press admitted it was wrong when it posted Wednesday that Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed gave his victory speech in Arabic. In a correction, the outlet acknowledged he only "said a few phrases in Arabic" and that "the majority of his speech was in English."
The original post, which promoted an opinion video, also pointed out that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) spoke Somali at her own victory party. It then paired the two moments with a post from Iran's supreme leader declaring that America's collapse "has accelerated" before asking followers what they should make of the speeches.
El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat, beat Republican Mike Rogers on Tuesday in the race for Michigan's open Senate seat.
The Free Press closed its correction by saying it "regrets the error," but the mea culpa did little to stem the fallout.
Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House spokesperson and co-host of "Pod Save America," called the episode "humiliating" for the outlet.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald accused the outlet of cashing in on the original post's reach before quietly correcting it.
"Leave the mega-viral tweet with the false sensationalistic claim, continue to profit off of that false claim as it continues to viralize, then tack on a 'correction' TWO FULL DAYS LATER that nobody sees, just so you can say you did," Greenwald blasted. "Ladies and gentlemen: The Free Press."
Attorney George Conway, the ex-husband of Trump ally Kellyanne Conway, noted, "That's...quite a misstatement."
Kyle Clark, an anchor at Denver's 9NEWS, suggested the outlet handpicked too gentle a word. "The word for this might not be 'error,'" he wrote.
Adam Carlson, a political data analyst, answered the outlet's expression of regret with three words. "No you don't."
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts agreed, "That's quite the error..."
The progressive MeidasTouch network diagnosed the outlet with "Abdul Derangement Syndrome."
Writer Molly Jong-Fast called out the outlet's price tag. "This outlet was sold for 150 million dollars," she pointed out.
Leave the mega-viral tweet with the false sensationalistic claim, continue to profit off of that false claim as it continues to viralize, then tack on a "correction" TWO FULL DAYS LATER that nobody sees, just so you can say you did.Ladies and gentlemen: The Free Press.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 6, 2026
Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com.
For customer support contact support@rawstory.com.
