Washington Post Engulfed In Dave Weigel Retweet Scandal As Argument Rages Across Twitter

June 7th, 2022 - 2:05 PM EDT by Aidan Walker

1 comment | Contact Newsroom

A picture of Dave Weigel, and two tweets commenting on the controversy.

A June 3rd retweet of a joke by Washington Post reporter David Weigel has sparked a days-long controversy over social media policy and workplace discrimination in journalism, with reporters at the Washington Post engaging in Twitter arguments with one another and describing a misogynistic environment in the newsroom. Weigel himself has since been suspended from WaPo for a month.


Weigel’s retweet of a joke by @camharless, a self-described “shitposter” and podcast host, was criticized as sexist and ableist. His coworker at the Washington Post, Felicia Sonmez (a reporter who covers Chinese and American politics), tweeted about Weigel’s retweet and criticized WaPo for allowing it.


Weigel then removed the retweet and apologized for the offensive joke that same day.


But the argument did not end with Weigel’s retraction. Washington Post reporter José Del Real replied to Sonmez’s tweet criticizing Weigel, accusing her of clout chasing. The two coworkers proceeded to get into a heated Twitter argument that lasted most of the weekend and culminated in Del Real briefly deactivating his account.

​​


When Sonmez was suspended from the Washington Post in 2020 over a tweet of her own that shared sexual assault allegations against Kobe Bryant just hours after his death, Weigel was one of many employees who signed a letter in support of her and calling on the post to reinstate her, a fact that many of his defenders pointed out. At the time, Weigel even celebrated Sonmez's return post-suspension with a meme.


Felicia Sonmez has continued to tweet, creating a 30-tweet thread describing her own experiences and feelings of being marginalized and not listened to while working at the Washington Post. In the thread, Sonmez describes “unequal treatment," alleging that minority reporters and reporters that are not “stars” are subject to different rules, while famous white male writers like Weigel “get away with murder.”


Sonmez has also documented the online harassment she has faced since publicly airing the issue.


Defenders of Sonmez have expressed sympathy with her, calling out the original joke Weigel retweeted as offensive and objecting to the behavior of Del Real and others who criticized Sonmez.


Defenders of Weigel then criticized those who took offense at the joke and called the Post’s suspension of Weigel a cancel culture overreach. Many thought it absurd that Weigel should suffer such consequences for a comparatively minor offense. Some compared the treatment of Weigel to the treatment of other very-online WaPo reporters, such as Taylor Lorenz.


The shitposter community had its own response to the news, with Cam Harless (the author of the joke that got Weigel suspended) using the publicity to promote his podcast and give interviews to outlets, such as The New York Post, promoting himself.




+ Add a Comment

Comments (1)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Greetings! You must login or signup first!