The Washington Post must reinstate columnist Karen Attiah after her termination last year linked to social media posts following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa determined the newspaper lacked “good and sufficient cause” and violated Attiah’s labor agreement, according to The New York Times.
Espinosa stated, “The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct.” This decision is a response to Karen Attiah’s legal action against her dismissal.
Karen Attiah shared her thoughts with The Times, expressing relief, “This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion writer, and this was wrongful termination.” She further announced her victory on social media platform X, saying, “The Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth after Charlie Kirk’s killing. I fought back. I’m happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post. They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately.”
A spokesperson from The Washington Post acknowledged the arbitration process, choosing not to comment further on the decision. Fox News Digital requested comments from both Attiah and Talking Points USA. Attiah initially sparked controversy with her posts on platform Bluesky, where she commented about the slain conservative figure.
Attiah’s posts received backlash, with critics condemning her for misquoting Kirk’s statements. In one instance, she alleged Kirk stated, “Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a White person’s slot.” However, Kirk’s actual comments on “The Charlie Kirk Show” in July 2023 involved commentary on affirmative action, not the specific statements Attiah attributed to him.
Kirk’s remarks were: “If we would have said three weeks ago […] that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama, and Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative-action picks, we would have been called racist. But now they’re comin’ out and they’re saying it for us! They’re comin’ out, and they’re saying, ‘I’m only here because of affirmative action.’ Yeah, we know. You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a White person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
The fallout from Attiah’s posts led to her firing, with the Post deeming her comments “unacceptable” and “gross misconduct.” In response, Attiah filed a legal challenge against her termination last fall, leading to the arbitration process initiated in June.