Overview

• Karen Attiah said she was dismissed last week after Bluesky posts on gun violence and race following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, noting she was the Post’s last full-time Black opinion columnist.
• A termination letter published by Mediaite says her posts violated the Post’s social media rules, harmed the outlet’s integrity, and could endanger staff, and it referenced documented performance concerns.
• The Washington Post declined to comment on personnel matters and directed outlets to its social media policy, while the Post Guild publicly condemned the firing as wrongful.
• One Attiah post quoted Kirk criticizing prominent Black women; some outlets dispute the quote’s accuracy, while others cite a 2023 podcast clip and fact-checks supporting the substance with different wording.
• Coverage places the firing within a broader reshaping of the Post’s opinion section under editor Adam O’Neal and in a wider wave of employer actions after Kirk’s killing, including MSNBC’s dismissal of analyst Matthew Dowd.