Karen Attiah, an opinion columnist at The Washington Post, says she was dismissed after posting on social media about gun violence and “racial double standards” following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
In a Substack post announcing her firing, Attiah said her posts condemned political violence and criticized America’s inaction on gun reform, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
In one, she wrote that “white America is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of guns in their country.”
She said The Post described her comments as “unacceptable,” “gross misconduct,” and a danger to “the physical safety of colleagues” — claims she rejected.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment. The outlet’s policies state that employees must use social media responsibly and treat others with respect.
The dismissal comes amid broader changes to the newspaper’s opinion section after owner Jeff Bezos directed it to embrace “personal liberties and free markets.” That shift led to the departure of opinion editor David Shipley and the appointment of Adam O’Neal, formerly of The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.
Other media outlets have also acted against staff over remarks tied to Kirk’s killing. MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd after he said on air that Kirk had “pushed” hate speech.
Attiah stressed she did not celebrate Kirk’s death and only cited his past remarks about figures including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She closed her post by inviting readers to join an online course she runs on race and the media.
