Washington Post Fires Columnist Karen Attiah Over Social Media Posts After Charlie Kirk’s Death
Karen Attiah, a longtime opinion columnist at The Washington Post, announced her dismissal from the paper in a Substack post on September 15, 2025. She said she had been terminated because of social media posts she made on Bluesky following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Attiah claims that the Post labeled her posts “unacceptable” and “gross misconduct,” additionally accusing her of endangering the safety of colleagues—allegations she rejects outright. She emphasized that she was fired without any prior conversation with editors.
Attiah, who joined the Post in 2014 and had been one of its most visible Black opinion writers, said she refused a proposed buyout and had clashed with the new opinion editor, Adam O’Neal. She argued that her posts—which addressed gun violence, racial inequity, and what she called “ritualized responses” or “performative mourning” for a white man with a history of provocative Speech—were mischaracterized. Her only direct mention of Kirk by name, she said, involved quoting past remarks he made.
In her Substack writing, Attiah said that her posts were consistent with her long-held positions and that they received thoughtful engagement and little public backlash until the Post took action. She also pointed out that she was the last full-time Black opinion columnist at the newspaper, arguing that her firing is part of what she described as “a broader purge of Black voices” from media, academia, business, and government.
The Post has not publicly responded to specific questions about Attiah’s firing, but pointed generally to its policies on social media conduct for its journalists. The case has sparked broader concern from press freedom and diversity advocates, who worry about editorial direction changes, especially following the hiring of new leadership and stated shifts in emphasis toward “personal liberties and free markets.”
