The Washington Post has sacked Ghanaian-American columnist Karen Attiah, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and one of its most prominent Black voices, over her social media remarks following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a Substack post dated September 15, Attiah revealed that her dismissal stemmed from her outspoken criticism of political violence, racial double standards, and America’s entrenched gun culture. Her comments, posted on Bluesky, came after Kirk was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10.
The Washington Post Guild condemned the paper’s decision, stating: “The Washington Post wrongly fired Opinions columnist Karen Attiah over her social media posts. The Post not only flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes, it also undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech.”
CNN reported that Post executives were particularly angered by Attiah’s claim that Kirk “espoused violence” and her reminder of a 2023 statement in which Kirk mocked the “brain processing power” of prominent Black women, including Joy Reid and Michelle Obama.
Attiah, the Post’s last remaining full-time Black opinion columnist, rejected allegations of “gross misconduct,” describing them as baseless.
Her sacking comes at a turbulent time for the Opinions department, following Jeff Bezos’ February 2025 directive to reshape the paper’s editorial focus around “personal liberties and free markets.”
Attiah first came to international attention after the 2018 murder of her colleague Jamal Khashoggi. She later founded the Post’s Global Opinions section and became a columnist in 2021.
