Bye, Felicia. Yeah, that’s a bit of a throwback, but it’s appropriate here since that’s exactly what happened to Felicia Sonmez of The Washington Post. Sonmez was the reporter who started a week-long fiasco at the publication. She got longtime political reporter Dave Weigel suspended for retweeting a joke. No, I’m not kidding. Weigel retweeted a joke he didn’t even write which landed him in the gulag. It placed the paper’s apparent insane workplace environment on display. It exposed the nonsense that occurs when political correctness is overvalued. It’s truly a circus over there.
As we noted, it got so bad that the executive editor had to step in and pretty much send a memo saying that everyone should be nice to one another. This came after Sonmez’s colleagues urged her to accept Weigel’s apology, which I feel he never should have issued, and move on; she didn’t. She kept carrying on and on. Other staffers started finding old Twitter dirt on each other from years past. It was a mess. I still can’t believe it lasted this long. Would the meltdown ever end? As of yesterday morning, it looked like it would continue to rage on—but Sonmez was fired by the paper. She could not be reached for comment.
News: The Washington Post has terminated reporter Felicia Sonmez, according to a source close to the situation.
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) June 9, 2022
It happened this afternoon. Post PR is declining to comment, citing privacy issues.
Story coming.
EXCLUSIVE: The @washingtonpost has parted ways with national political reporter @feliciasonmez, capping a week of fighting that stoked conversations over newsroom inequity and social media use and pitted reporters against each other.https://t.co/HhEFypSBlt
— Corbin Bolies (@CorbinBolies) June 9, 2022
Some breaking news from the media desk: Felicia Sonmez is out at The Washington Post.https://t.co/4BeoQMgynI
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 9, 2022
Finally, Felicia can tweet what she really thinks of the Washington Post. https://t.co/96DYgxtTKL
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 9, 2022
Day 6
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 9, 2022
Felicia Sonmez blasts her colleagues who publicly defended the Washington Post noting that “they are all white” pic.twitter.com/fL09zsYesL
Felicia Sonmez being escorted out of the Washington Post pic.twitter.com/vSxlEiddsv
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 9, 2022
Congratulations, everyone!
— Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) June 9, 2022
We’re coming up on 150 hours of nonstop WaPo infighting and airing of grievances. Almost an entire week of this shitshow (and with no end in sight!). pic.twitter.com/7WBSSw39LZ
Here's the joke that got Weigel suspended (via Fox News):
Washington Post's Chief Communications Officer Kris Coratti told Fox News, "Editors have made clear to the staff that the tweet was reprehensible and demanding language or actions like that will not be tolerated."
Weigel also removed the retweet from his Twitter page and issued an apology.
"I just removed a retweet of an offensive joke. I apologize and did not mean to cause any harm," Weigel wrote.
Harless, the original author of the tweet, reacted to Weigel's apology, writing, "it’s weird to see someone else apologize for something you tweeted," also calling it "grim af."
Pick your battles, kids. There are some things to die for—absolutely. A retweet on Twitter is not one of them. Get a grip. Sonmez didn’t—and now she’s been terminated.