The Washington Post has dismissed opinion columnist Karen Attiah following a series of controversial social media posts made in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Attiah herself confirmed the termination in a Substack essay published Monday, where she revealed that the newspaper cited her remarks as “unacceptable social media posts.” The controversy stemmed from her reactions online to the killing of Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA.
In one of her most widely discussed posts on Bluesky, she wrote: “Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.” Another post read: “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is… not the same as violence.”
According to the Post, these comments crossed a line, amounting to “gross misconduct,” and were viewed as potentially endangering the safety of staff members.
Attiah’s Defense
In her Substack response, Attiah strongly denied the paper’s accusations.
“They rushed to fire me without even a conversation,” she wrote. “This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.”
She argued that her dismissal was the direct result of “speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns.” Attiah stressed that her words were not incitement but commentary rooted in truth and evidence.
The Context of Kirk’s Murder
Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative figure, was fatally shot last week. Authorities have charged Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah native, who is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
Attiah maintained that her initial posts were framed around broader concerns about violence in America. She expressed “sadness and fear for America” following the incident, highlighting how political violence is often downplayed. Citing recent cases, she wrote: “For everyone saying political violence has no place in this country… remember two Democratic legislators were shot in Minnesota just this year. And America shrugged and moved on.”
She concluded that her comments were descriptive, based on facts, and in line with long-standing critiques of America’s normalization of violence.
A Larger Debate
This is not the first time Attiah has sparked public debate. Back in 2021, she drew criticism after tweeting that white women were “lucky” Black people were “just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge.”
In her latest essay, she argued that her firing reflects a broader systemic issue: “What happened to me is part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and media — a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful.”