New York Times Editor Apologizes After Coming Under Fire for 'Offensive' Tweets About Race
A New York Times editor has offered a terse apology after his tweets about race landed him in hot water amid accusations of anti-Semitism.
The Times came under fire for comments made by The Times politics editor Tom Wright-Piersanti between 2008 and 2010. The tweets attacked Jews, Native Americans and others.
One of his tweets talked about wishing others a “crappy Jew year” and another talked about calling the “Jew police.”
Once the old tweets surfaced, The Times said they were a violation of its standards and that the newspaper would pursue its next steps. It is unclear what those steps might be. The Western Journal reached out to The New York Times for comment but as of Friday morning has not received a reply.
Wright-Piersanti worked for the Newark Star-Ledger at the time he made his controversial tweets, according to the New York Post.
“I have deleted tweets from a decade ago that are offensive. I am deeply sorry,” Wright–Piersanti tweeted, according to The Wrap. Wright-Piersanti’s account was also locked down and made private.
If neither Wright-Piersanti nor The Times had much to say, others did.
Disgusting. But we shouldn’t expect any better from the New York Times. This is who they are.
‘Crappy Jew Year’: New York Times Editor Antisemitism, Racism Exposed https://t.co/ZHpBes81x1 via @BreitbartNews
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 22, 2019
These are the people that are lecturing us about racism and anti-Semitism? #disgraceful
‘Crappy Jew Year’: New York Times Editor Antisemitism, Racism Exposed https://t.co/GOFFs6idRx via @BreitbartNews
— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) August 22, 2019
Once again, the @nytimes condones antiSemitism. As the far Left and MSM lionizes antiSemites, vilifies israel, and stokes racial tension, will there be any accountability at the NYT? https://t.co/OUZt2GzF2T
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 22, 2019
“This isn’t an intern. This is an editor,” said Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York. “Someone should walk over to his desk, tell him to pack up and walk him out.”
“I am disgusted but not surprised by this latest revelation out of the New York Times,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to Breitbart News.
“Will there be consequences? Doubtful. The New York Times is too busy weaponizing journalism to harass this president and the people who work for him to bother holding their own people accountable.”
Breitbart, which broke the story on the tweets, also included a reaction to them from Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, who called for Wright-Piersanti to be fired.
“If he had come out with tweets making these types of remarks against blacks or gays or women, he’d be gone in a nanosecond. Why is there a different standard when you attack Jewish people? So he should be fired immediately,” he said.
“With respect to the New York Times, the newspaper who for decades has been biased against and hostile to the Jewish state of Israel in article after article, editorial after editorial — a newspaper that only recently had the most vicious antisemitic cartoon, it should be a newspaper that is overly sensitive to refrain from appearing hostile to Jews and immediately take action against an antisemitic editor and make a public statement concerning this issue.”
Klein said The Times’ “bigotry against Israel is so consistent, so pervasive, that it has to be more than a coincidence of some sort.
“They really should re-evaluate why they’re allowing this bias that they would never allow against blacks or gays or women or hispanics. Why are they allowing this against Jews? In an era of rising antisemitism and attacks against Jewish people, and overt antisemitism from Congresswomen like Tlaib, Omar, and AOC, it is a time where the New York Times should be especially sensitive to not increasing enmity toward the Jewish state of Israel and the Jewish people,” he said.
The dust-up over Wright-Piersanti’s tweets comes shortly after The Times demoted its deputy Washington editor, Jonathan Weisman, over several tweets, including one that outraged Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Weisman was demoted and The Times said he will no longer communicate on social media.
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