Otherwise, as she wrote on Substack, her Bluesky posts “condemned America’s acceptance of political violence and criticized its ritualized responses—the hollow, cliched calls for ‘thoughts and prayers’ and ‘this is not who we are’ that normalize gun violence and absolve white perpetrators especially, while nothing is done to curb deaths.” In one thread, which she said was the most widely shared, she also referenced the murder of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, decrying the fact that “America shrugged and moved on.”
“My commentary received thoughtful engagement across platforms, support, and virtually no public backlash,” Attiah claimed. “And yet, the Post accused my measured Bluesky posts of being ‘unacceptable’, ‘gross misconduct’ and of endangering the physical safety of colleagues—charges without evidence, which I reject completely as false. They rushed to fire me without even a conversation. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.” Attiah also noted that she was the last remaining Black, full-time opinion columnist at the Post. “Washington D.C. no longer has a paper that reflects the people it serves,” she wrote. “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—and tragic.” A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters and pointed to the paper’s public-facing policies and standards in response to The A.V. Club‘s request for comment on this story.
Attiah’s announcement follows the firing of MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd, who was broadcasting live when news of the shooting was first released. “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” he said at the time. “That’s the unfortunate environment we are in.” In his own Substack post a few days later, Dowd clarified that “the only thing known at the time was shots were fired and there was no reporting yet that Kirk was the target or had been shot at.” “The Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob,” he continued. “Even though most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued, the timing of my words forgotten… and that I apologized for any miscommunication on my part, I was terminated by the end of the day.”
Both of these firings come as Kirk’s supporters campaign to bring similar consequences to public and private figures they see as “celebrating” the influencer’s death. Employees of universities, the secret service, multiple airlines, and more have also been fired or put on leave.