Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel was suspended over a misfired joke on Twitter this week, but apparently, Weigel’s fate was sealed by fellow reporter Felicia Sonmez, even though he defended her during a previous Twitter dust-up.
Weigel was suspended for one month after re-tweeting someone else’s joke about “bi girls” that angered some of his fellow reporters.
Weigel’s suspension came a few days after fellow Post reporter Felicia Sonmez blasted him on Twitter over the re-tweeted joke.
Apparently, loyalty does not buy much consideration at the Post these days, though. Sonmez had no problem going after Weigel even though Weigel came to her aid when she got herself in hot water over a tweet of her own.
Sonmez was suspended in 2020 just as the nation was mourning the loss of Lakers great Kobe Bryant because she brought up a 2016 story about rape allegations lodged against the player.
Extremely flimsy allegations at that.
Bryant and seven others — including his daughter — died when a helicopter they were in crashed outside Los Angeles on January 26, 2020. But as the nation mourned the shocking loss, Sonmez jumped to her Twitter account to say, “Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality… even if that public figured is beloved and that totality unsettling.”
She then tweeted about the rape allegations lodged against the player. A few days later, the paper suspended her for being insensitive during a time of mourning.
Not only was she suspended, but many of the player’s supporters wanted her fired over her tweet. She eventually deleted her tweet, raising Bryant’s past.
But Weigel was one of those Post reporters who came to Sonmez’s defense upon her suspension.
Weigel joined several other Post reporters in signing a letter coming to Sonmez’s support. The letter said that it is “our responsibility as a news organization to tell the public the whole truth as we know it — about figures and institutions both popular and unpopular, at moments timely and untimely.”
Later, after she returned from her suspension, Weigel posted a tweet welcoming her back to the newsroom, the New York Post reported.
Sonmez, though, appears unmoved by Weigel’s support.
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