Karen Attiah Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comment — What's The Washington Post's Political Leaning?

Readers of the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper The Washington Post are wondering about the outlet's political leanings after its only full-time Black journalist, Karen Attiah, was fired.

Attiah announced her termination on Sept. 15, 2025, with several social media posts on social media.

Attiah noted that she was "being silenced" by The Washington Post after she spoke out about America's "acceptance of apathy towards political violence and gun deaths" and Charlie Kirk on social media. Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah, as he spoke at Utah Valley University.

Kirk was a strong Trump supporter and gun advocate who was criticized for his racist views, and debates about the irony of his death have erupted on social media.

According to Media Bias Fact Check, the Washington Post has historically been left-center-leaning. The newspaper was founded by Democrat Stilson in 1877, per The Washington Post. Being that the newspaper was a fairly liberal organization, readers were shocked by Attiah's termination. She was fired for a series of posts on Bluesky, and only one directly mentioned the Turning Point USA founder.

"America, especially white America, is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of the guns in their country," she wrote.

Attiah also paraphrased a quote Kirk made about several prominent Black women on The Charlie Kirk Show.

"Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously," read the post. "You have to go steal a white person's slot."

"Now I am being silenced by the Washington Post for -- *checks notes* Lamenting America's acceptance of apathy towards political violence and gun deaths," she wrote on X. "Especially when the violence is encouraged and carried out by white men."

Kirk incorrectly stated on The Charlie Kirk Show that Harvard-educated Black women Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Yale-educated Sheila Jackson Lee were affirmative action picks.

"Joy Reid, and Michelle Obama, and Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks," he falsely claimed. "We would have been called the racist, but now, they're coming out and they're saying it for us. They're coming out and they're saying, 'I'm only here because 5of 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."

Attiah said the newspaper claimed her posts were "unacceptable,” “gross misconduct,” and "endangering the physical safety of colleagues."

She added that the claims were "charges without evidence, which I reject completely as false. They rushed to fire me without even a conversation — claiming disparagement on race. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold."

According to The Hill, The Washington Post declined to comment on Attiah's termination.