Jonathan (Not Very) Weisman

New York Times deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman simply cannot stop stepping in digital dogshit.

After his weird, racist Twitter thread last week, and then another weird and bad comment toward a black progressive candidate for Congress yesterday, Weisman has apparently taken a much-needed break from Twitter. That does not mean, however, that Weisman is successfully suppressing the urge to Post; he’s simply channeling it into another medium.

Writer Roxane Gay, who criticized Weisman’s comment towards Ohio congressional candidate Morgan Harper yesterday in tweets of her own, divulged today that Weisman had emailed her demanding an “enormous” apology.

Weisman apparently also emailed her assistant the same exact thing, just with the pronouns changed out to reflect who he was speaking to. Of course Gay posted the receipts.

Jonathan Weisman—again, since it bears repeating—is the DEPUTY WASHINGTON EDITOR for the NEW YORK TIMES. Why why why would you ever fire off an email like this, let alone without first clearing with the person you’re reaching out to that you’re both off the record?

If I were Jonathan Weisman, I’d maybe take tomorrow off. Maybe the whole month! So far, it has not been a good one.

Update, 4:05 p.m. ET: A New York Times spokesperson told journalist Yashar Ali, “Jonathan has repeatedly displayed poor judgment on social media and in responding to criticism. We’re closely examining what to do about it.” Yikes.

 
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