WaPo columnist says she was fired over social media posts after Charlie Kirk's assassination

A Washington Post columnist claimed Monday that she was fired over her social media posts after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk's assassination in which she argued violence in the U.S. was due to "white men who espouse hatred and violence."

The opinion columnist and editor, Karen Attiah, said in a Substack post she was fired last week over "unacceptable social media posts," she wrote on Bluesky following Kirk's murder on Wednesday at Utah Valley University, the Daily Mail reported.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested Thursday for allegedly shooting Kirk, 31.

"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," Attiah wrote in one of the posts.

"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," she wrote in another post.

Attiah wrote on Substack about her firing, "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," she added.

Attiah said the reason for her firing was "[s]peaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns."

"As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction," Attiah wrote. "Now, I am the one being silenced - for doing my job."

She added that she was posting on social media after Kirk's murder to express "sadness and fear for America" and condemn America's acceptance of political violence.

Attiah said that her most shared post on Bluesky after Kirk's death read, "For everyone saying political violence has no place in this country… Remember two Democratic legislators were shot in Minnesota just this year. And America shrugged and moved on."

She explained the post, writing on Substack, "I pointed to the familiar pattern of America shrugging off gun deaths, and giving compassion for white men who commit and espouse political violence. This cycle has been documented for years. Nothing I said was new or false or disparaging— it is descriptive, and supported by data."

Attiah said she only directly referenced Kirk in one post, when she shared one of his quotes that she allegedly misquoted, writing, "Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot."

"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."

The Washington Post didn't respond to a request for comment from Just the News.