The Washington Post said it had raised documented performance concerns about opinion columnist Karen Attiah before firing her over social media comments she made after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a termination letter made public Monday, the paper’s chief human resources officer, Wayne Connell, said Attiah’s publicly posted remarks on the social network BlueSky — which the Post described as "unacceptable" and as a violation of its social media policies — came against a backdrop of prior performance issues that contributed to the decision. The letter said the combination of those concerns and the recent posts created an unacceptable risk to the organization and could "potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff." It directed Attiah to remove any reference to her Washington Post affiliation from public-facing profiles immediately.
The Post characterized the conduct as "gross misconduct." The paper said the posts violated internal standards and that the decision to terminate employment was informed by both the social media activity and the previously documented performance concerns.
Attiah, 39, posted on Substack earlier Monday that she had been fired for "speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America's apathy toward guns." She said she had been the last remaining Black full-time opinion columnist at the Post in one of the nation's most diverse regions and described her dismissal as part of what she called a broader purge of Black voices from institutions. In her Substack post she included a photograph of herself standing in front of The Washington Post name holding a burning newspaper and wrote, "Democracy Dies in Darkness, but some of us will carry on the light."
The remarks that triggered the dispute followed the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, 31, the founder of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA. Kirk was shot Wednesday during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University in Orem. In posts on BlueSky after the killing, Attiah wrote that "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." In a separate comment she wrote, "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."
Attiah told the outlet Status that she was surprised by the firing, saying her social media posts had drawn "very little backlash" and that her comments were meant to address the broader state of gun violence in the United States. In her Substack post she also said the Post had rushed to fire her without a conversation and rejected the paper's characterization of her posts as endangering colleagues.
News reports and social media commentary noted that Attiah has drawn controversy for previous remarks. In 2021 she wrote that white women were "lucky" Black people were "just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge," a post for which she later faced criticism. Media outlets have also reported that Post management had at times confronted Attiah about social-media posts expressing progressive views, and that she had sparred publicly with the paper over editorial decisions, including a past nonendorsement of a Democratic candidate.
The Post did not immediately provide additional details about the earlier performance concerns cited in the termination letter. The paper’s human resources office framed the decision as driven by both the content of the social media posts and the history of documented issues, saying the combination posed a risk the organization could not tolerate.
The killing of Kirk has prompted a range of reactions in media and political circles, including scrutiny of commentators' responses to his death. Earlier this week, MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd was dismissed after remarks suggesting Kirk's rhetoric had contributed to his killing; network leaders said his comments violated their standards.
Attiah has been a prominent opinion writer and editor and has drawn both support and criticism for outspoken commentary on race, politics and international issues. Her departure from the Post removes a high-profile Black voice from the paper’s opinion pages, a point she emphasized in her Substack essay. The paper’s leadership has described the termination as a personnel decision based on established policies and documented concerns.
Neither The Washington Post nor Attiah provided additional comment beyond the public statements and posts. The Post's handling of the matter is likely to draw further attention amid ongoing debates over social media conduct by journalists, newsroom standards, and the role of opinion columnists in public discourse.