Karen Attiah, a former Washington Post writer and editor with more than a decade of experience, has announced that her lawsuit against the newspaper is progressing after eight months since she was terminated.
According to Attiah, she was fired in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing following messages she posted on BlueSky that accused Kirk of espousing hatred and suggested political violence against him was justified.
“This week, I’m fighting back,” Attiah wrote in a statement. “My case heads to arbitration on Thursday.”
The lawsuit challenges her termination, which she describes as having been particularly significant because she was the last remaining Black full-time staff columnist in the Washington Post’s Opinions section. She characterized her posts as a “refusal to strip my clothes in performative mourning for Charlie Kirk” and noted that she had been accused of “gross misconduct” related to messages allegedly violating the newspaper’s prohibition against disparaging people based on ethnicity or race.
In her statement, Attiah also wrote: “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 added: “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. Again. I don’t care for empty rhetoric.”
Attiah emphasized that her presence in the editorial office was critical for diversity.
Additionally, Attiah has previously been involved with a scam where she fell for a story by a Somali activist who falsely claimed to have been assaulted with a brick after being rejected by the activist. A jury later found the activist guilty of fabricating the story to raise $42,000 from a GoFundMe campaign.
In 2022, Attiah also wrote: “Many white, cis women would rather gatekeep and maintain privilege than work in solidarity with other groups. Patriarchy is crushing us, but y’all wanna play both-sides pattycake.”
