Washington Post Ordered to Reinstate Columnist Karen Attiah

The Washington Post has been directed to reinstate Karen Attiah, a columnist who was dismissed last year due to controversial social media posts following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa oversaw Attiah’s legal appeal against The Post and concluded the paper did not have ‘good and sufficient cause’ for termination, according to a report by The New York Times published last Thursday.

‘The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct,’ Espinosa asserted.

Karen Attiah, previously a columnist with The Washington Post, stated that she felt relief now that the matter has been clarified, highlighting, ‘This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion writer, and this was wrongful termination.’

Announcing her win on social media, Attiah posted, ‘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 Washington Post spokesperson acknowledged the arbitration process but chose not to provide further comment. Attiah did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.

Attiah’s initial posts on the liberal social media platform Bluesky led to public outrage, particularly regarding comments on the deceased conservative figure Charlie Kirk.

In one of her posts, Attiah wrote, ‘Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a White man that espoused violence is… not the same as violence.’

She further stated, ‘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.’

Critics additionally censured Attiah for inaccurately quoting Kirk, attributing remarks about Black women which he had not made. A segment of Kirk’s statement during a July 2023 show highlighted affirmative action discussions: ‘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 assignment of Attiah from The Post followed significant criticism related to her posts. In the notice of her firing, the posts were deemed ‘unacceptable’ and constituted ‘gross misconduct.’

In response, Attiah lodged a legal contest against her termination last fall, and announced an arbitration agreement with the paper this June.