The New York Times is under fire this week for adding Sarah Jeong to its editorial board despite her history of racist tweets about white people.
“The Gray Lady” essentially faced claims that it’s the “Anti-white Lady” on Wednesday shortly after announcing its incoming technology op-ed editor. Social media platforms and news aggregation websites such as Twitchy quickly shared Ms. Jeong’s musing on white people.
Some include:
- “#cancelwhitepeople”
- “1. White men are bulls—. 2. No one cares about women. 3. You can threaten anyone on the internet except cops.”
- “Oh man. It’s sick how much joy I get from being cruel to old white men”
- Dumba— f—ing white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.”
“Sarah has guided readers through the digital world with verve and erudition, staying ahead of every turn on the vast beat that is the internet,” the newspaper wrote. “She arrives most recently from the Verge, where she’s a senior writer. She also authored the book, ’The Internet of Garbage,’ which examines the many forms of online harassment, free speech, and the challenges of moderating platforms and social media networks.”
The “paper of record” released a statement on Thursday saying Ms. Jeong’s tweets were a short-sighted response to online harassment.
“She understands that this kind of rhetoric is not acceptable at The Times and we are confident that she will be an important voice of the editorial board moving forward,” the newspaper wrote.
Ms. Jeong added her own statement, which defined the tweets as “counter-trolling” not meant for a “general audience.”
Hi all, I have a statement about the tweets that have been going around:
— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) August 2, 2018
FoxNews.com contributor Stephen Miller noted that The New York Times fired technology writer Quinn Norton earlier this year under similar circumstances.
“I don’t care about Sarah Jeong’s dumb old tweets but it’s the Times themselves who set this standard,” he wrote.
Our statement in response to criticism of the hiring of Sarah Jeong. pic.twitter.com/WryIgbaoqg
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) August 2, 2018
Ms. Norton was fired in February amid revelations of her connections to neo-Nazis and several tweets she made using gay and racial slurs.
“I was called a Nazi because of my friendship with the infamous neo-Nazi known on the internet as weev — his given name is Andrew Auernheimer; he helps run the anti-Semitic website ’The Daily Stormer,’ ” Ms. Norton said, The Wrap reported. “In my pacifism, I can’t reject a friendship, even when a friend has taken such a horrifying path. I am not the judge of who is capable of improving as a person.”
“Dumba*s f*cking white people!” NYT’s newest editorial board member, Sarah Jeong, wanted to “cancel” white people https://t.co/JiBpddPciW
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 2, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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