You’d never have guessed that the big news of the week wouldn’t be the assassination attempt on a Supreme Court justice — no, it was the newsroom drama at the Washington Post. Dave Weigel, who retweeted a joke and then thought better of it, was suspended without pay. His colleague, Felicia Sonmez, was deeply offended by the joke and let the world know if a long series of Twitter posts. She took the advice to “please stop” as an attack, and she also didn’t seem impressed with the Washington Post’s statement that the atmosphere in the newsroom was “collegial” — how could it be collegial when sexist jokes could be retweeted? “Right now, the Post is a place where many of us fear our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions,” she tweeted.
We’re not sure if the Post finally had enough and gave her the boot or if she stuck to her principles and walked, but The Daily Beast is reporting that she and the Post have parted ways.
EXCLUSIVE: The @washingtonpost has parted ways with national political reporter @feliciasonmez, capping a week of fighting that stoked conversations over newsroom inequity and social media use and pitted reporters against each other.https://t.co/HhEFypSBlt
— Corbin Bolies (@CorbinBolies) June 9, 2022
Does she even know? I mean, has she looked away from tweeting enough to find out?
— Faye Hausendorff (@FayeH321) June 9, 2022
— Kemba (@kembageorge) June 9, 2022
We were hoping for 3-4 more days of hilarity but this is probably best.
— Democracy dies in Bye…or Bi Felicia #AmPo (@dying_democracy) June 9, 2022
This is the ultimate "Bye, Felicia." St. Felicia is the patron saint of farewells, right
— Michael K. Harlow (@mharlow22) June 9, 2022
I mean… she’s basically been daring them to do it.
— Holly Thornton (@beachmamax2) June 9, 2022
it is very funny how entirely self inflicted this was. like she could have just accepted the victory in getting her co-worker suspended, but she had to tweet about it non stop
when you basically admit publicly "I am on twitter every day and cannot do my job", what do you expect?
— guy (@damrider11) June 9, 2022
— Gen-X Wolf™ (@GenXWolf) June 9, 2022
Why. She seemed such a good colleague
— ryan thomas 🍊🚛 (@ryanthomas88882) June 9, 2022
Lawsuit incoming in 3… 2…
Oh wait, she’s done this before, hasn’t she. pic.twitter.com/defRCYigFM
— TheFourthBranch (@The4ourthBranch) June 9, 2022
That's so weird that nonstop posting about how much you hate your employer would lead to a consequence like this
— tenderjerque (@HeOnTheToilet) June 9, 2022
Was she fired or did she quit? The Daily Beast says it’s a “developing story,” so we’re certain to find out soon.
* * *
Update:
The Washington Post’s own media reporter is saying she was terminated.
News: The Washington Post has terminated reporter Felicia Sonmez, according to a source close to the situation.
It happened this afternoon. Post PR is declining to comment, citing privacy issues.
Story coming.
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) June 9, 2022
Related:
Felicia Sonmez is still waging war on the Washington Post and white colleagues whose criticisms have only worsened her ‘trauma’ https://t.co/c9Q9e0EBvz
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 9, 2022