Washington Post's David Weigel suspended over 'sexist' retweet

David Weigel of The Washington Post was suspended by the outlet on Monday for a retweet that his colleague Felicia Sonmez publicly called out for being "sexist."

The scoop from Oliver Darcy at CNN cited a "person familiar with the matter" because both parties refused to officially comment. However, Weigel’s automated out-of-office email service said he’d be gone until July 5.

The Sonmez dilemma began on Friday, June 3, when she publicly called out her colleague David Weigel for retweeting @hamcarless on Twitter who made the joke that "Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual."

David Weigel removed the retweet and apologized that same afternoon. In further remarks, Sonmez said what she did was "absolutely necessary" and framed it as calling out sexism.

She made that justification to one of her other colleagues, Jose A. Del Real, who questioned the exercise. Sonmez’s sights then turned to him as the next target. Jose responded by blocking her on social media.

"I need you to know that I’m just an idiot on the internet having fun and I am enjoying every second of this," responded Harless on Monday.

Messages from the Washington Post's Slack channel that were leaked to CNN showed that Sonmez internally confronted Weigel and demanded to know if his retweet was a reflection of the outlet’s company values.

The outlet’s Chief Communications Officer issued a statement within hours of Sonmez’s initial post, saying "Editors have made clear to the staff that the tweet was reprehensible and demeaning language or actions like that will not be tolerated."

This was in addition to a similar, private response by Washington Post’s Matea Gold.

Some have pointed out the irony of Weigel’s predicament given previous statements he made denouncing the existence of cancel culture.

Sonmez previously got entangled in attempting to "#MeToo" the LA Times Beijing Bureau Chief, Jonathan Kaiman. Her social media commentary and conduct involving the matter in itself brought her professional scrutiny.

This in turn led the outlet’s editors to temporarily prohibit Sonmez from reporting on sexual harassment stories on behalf of the outlet. She in turn sued her current employer over allegations of discrimination, amid that decision. A judge tossed Sonmez’s lawsuit in March of this year, but her attorney says she plans to appeal.

The Washington Post has had other high-profile controversies with their reporting as of late, that have caused the Jeff Bezos owned paper to issue corrections. On Monday, editors at the paper acquiesced to the social media feedback from Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw after misstating the amount for the state’s fiscal year 2022 - 2023 budget.

Also in the same timeframe as the Sonmez saga the Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz was called out by Fox News over her conduct in handling a story about YouTubers during last week’s conclusion to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial.

Lorenz's initial claim of requesting comment from YouTubers "LegalBytes" and "ThatUmbrellaGuy," was later amended by the outlet’s editors multiple times.