The Washington Post canceled plans to run a front-and back-page advertisement that would have earned the paper $115,000 — and ran straight into fresh fury.
The ad, reportedly sponsored by the watchdog group Common Cause, demanded that President Donald Trump fire Elon Musk, who is working as a special government employee endeavoring to slash spending, and purging federal government workers.
Now many Washingtonians and political experts are furious with the paper, which Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos purchased in 2013. It follows recent anger after Bezos announced the newspaper would buck historical precedence by not endorsing a political candidate last year.
Democracy defender and elections lawyer Marc Elias pointed out that in October, the paper ran an ad from a right-wing group funded by Musk to attack Elias personally for his work.
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The Nation's sports editor, Dave Zirin, recalled The Post's long-time slogan, "Democracy dies in darkness." He posted the report and remarked, "After the Washington Post turned out the lights. Disgusting."
The new Post slogan is “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.”
Investigative reporter Sarah Posner, who covers the Christian right, posted the ad and linked it to the Common Cause site that calls to "Fire Elon Musk." The page walks through some of Musk's team's actions that have been the most concerning.
"Since the Washington Post didn't want you to see the anti-Musk ad with your newspaper, please check out this website and share it around," she asked followers.
Washington lawyer and Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway posted the ad as well, asking his followers, "Please disseminate these images widely. Who needs to place ads in a newspaper that few people actually read anymore?"
Former record labor executive turned political activist Howie Klein thinks the Post didn't run the ad so they wouldn't "hurt Elon Musk's delicate feelings."
Freelance journalist Kaz Weida commented, "Just a reminder that as you see headlines that NY Times is embracing AI and the Washington Post refused to publish a 'Fire musk' ad that we are still boycotting mainstream and legacy media run by billionaires. They are part of the problem, not the solution."
