Jonathan Swan, Axios’ national correspondent, was furious about the dismissal of Alexi McCammond as editor of Teen Vogue over decades-old tweets and said Friday it does not bode well for the media industry not to accept a sincere apology.
McCammond, who worked with Swan at Axios for four years, announced on Thursday that she and Teen Vogue had divorced after staff objected to offensive tweets she sent in 2011 as a teenager, including derogatory remarks about Asians.
“I was just very sad to see this happen,” Swan told America’s Newsroom. “I worked with her for four years. She does not have a racist leg in her body. If we as an industry can not accept someone’s sincere and repeated apology for something they tweeted at the age of 17, what are we doing? “
MEDIA MEMBERS HAPPENED AFTER CANCELLATION ALEXI MCCAMMOND COMES: ‘WHERE THE HELL IS OUR OPERATION’
McCammond, a 27-year-old black woman, had previously addressed the tweets and apologized when they appeared in 2019. Despite the apology of the then and also now to upset left-wing Teen Vogue staff members, she became another cancellation culture victim and lost her job before her tenure officially began.
Swan noted that Axios did not fire her after she apologized for the tweets in 2019 and called her an ‘anti-racism advocate’.
TEENAGER EDITOR BECOMES THE LATEST CANCELLATION OF CULTURE VICTORY AFTER THE OPERATION OF STAFF OVER DECADE SECOND
‘I was upset to see it because it’s really a very clear example of if we can not allow our people to forgive when they did something or said something or tweeted something when they were 17, and there is no ‘indication in their current professional life that they cherish these views, not a single indication, I do not know what we are really doing here,’ he said.
Swan also tweeted on Thursday about the shooting, asking ‘where are we as an industry’, that McCammond would not get a second chance. Journalists from across the political spectrum agreed, but Teen Vogue staff finally got their way.
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CNN correspondent Abby Phillip wrote McCammond was “obviously not who she was when she wrote the tweets”, and although he determined it was fair to “claim true remorse”, she wanted to give McCammond a chance has.
Left-wing MSNBC host Medhi Hasan said the situation made him ‘sad and frustrated’, tweeting there was a difference between ‘active, current racists’ and people apologizing for things they said long ago.
“Have we lost all sense of belonging? And who among us has not said or done things we regret?” he asked.