A reporter for Politico published a disgusting ‘joke’ about Donald and Ivanka Trump, and was immediately terminated.
Julia Ioffe tackled news reports that since Melania Trump was staying in New York to take care of their son, Barron, Ivanka would be given a space in the White House normally reserved for First Ladies.
Ioffe responded by tweeting her professional analysis, “Either Trump is f***ing his daughter or he’s shirking nepotism laws.”
Very classy.
Ioffe first tried to justify her statement by saying we live in a time where our next President says what’s on his mind, but then later apologized calling her comments ‘tasteless.’
It was a tasteless, offensive tweet that I regret and have deleted. I am truly and deeply sorry. It won’t happen again.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
The apology was too little, too late, as Ioffe, who was set to move on from Politico to the Atlantic, instead had her contract with Politico terminated immediately.
Via NewsBusters:
Late Wednesday afternoon, Politico fired, “effective immediately,” foreign policy contributor Julia Ioffe for a vulgar tweet suggesting that President-elect Donald Trump may be committing incest with daughter Ivanka. It came in light of reports the Trump daughter would occupy the First Lady’s office in her father’s White House, which Trump spokesmen denied.
The decision came just prior to her official departure to The Atlantic. Ioffe has since repeatedly apologized for her offensive statement and deleted the tweet in question …
In an e-mail obtained by The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple and others, Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown wrote to staff that her “tweet this afternoon about President-elect Trump — currently and understandably racing across social media — is a clear example of the opposite of what we were talking about” concerning acceptable use of social media.
“Julia had previously announced she is taking her work to the Atlantic. We have accelerated the close of her POLITICO contributor contract, effective immediately,” Harris and Brown added before concluding that they “understand how absolutely infuriating it is to have incidents like this tarnish POLITICO.”
The Atlantic also issued a statement saying Ioffe had made a mistake and apologized for it, concluding that “We’re confident that when she joins the Atlantic next month she will adhere to our standards.
Comment: Should the reporter have been fired for her comments about Donald and Ivanka Trump? Should the Atlantic still take her in and pretend she’s an objective journalist? Share your thoughts below.
