HuffPost, the left-wing online tabloid formerly known as the Huffington Post, depicted White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s departure with a series racially and religiously-charged headlines.
“GOY, BYE!” the HuffPost homepage screamed with a picture of the former Breitbart News Chairman splashed behind.
“Goy” is a Yiddish word meaning “nation,” commonly used to refer to gentiles. It is not, on its own, necessarily a term of derision, but can be a derogatory way of referring to non-Jews. The context here, gleefully celebrating the departure of a Christian White House staffer, is hardly a term of endearment. There is a suggestion that Bannon’s departure is a part of an ethnic and sectarian victory over white gentiles, rather than a reshuffling of White House staff. Alternately, the headline evokes anti-Semitic themes of Jewish control.
The headlines immediately raised eyebrows across social media, especially given the term’s adoption in the anti-Semitic rhetoric about powerful Jewish cabals in many of the internet’s dark corners, including the now-defunct “Daily Stormer” neo-Nazi site that rocketed into the headlines after last weekend’s deadly incidents in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Even #Resistance fixture Keith Olbermann could not believe his eyes:
Jewish New York Post contributor Seth Mandel was equally aghast if less vulgar in his appraisal:
https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/898605843305943040
A more humorous take came from Daily Wire contributor Harry Khachatrian:
Not everyone on the left was upset, however; Jon Cooper, Obama campaign staffer and chairman of The Democratic Coalition, enthusiastically retweeted the headline:
https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/898597376452984832
Seemingly responding to the outrage, HuffPost chose to downplay the sectarian elements of their earlier headline and quickly changed to the no less race-baiting “WHITE FLIGHT,” to describe Bannon leaving the White House. Struck by the continued characterization of Bannon’s departure, Washington Examiner columnist Byron York responded:
For HuffPost, a website that has referred to Bannon and Breitbart News, founded after a trip to Israel by Andrew Breitbart and Larry Solov, both Jewish, as anti-Semitic — largely over provocative headlines — the choice is doubly troubling. Fox News contributor Stephen Miller highlighted the hypocrisy:
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