USA Today‘s Hemal Jhaveri said she was fired Friday, after publicly asserting the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooter would be an “angry white man.”
USA Today “Race and Inclusion” Editor Hemal Jhaveri responded to a tweet by Deadspin Editor Julie DiCaro regarding Monday’s deadly mass shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket. “Extremely tired of people’s lives depending on whether a white man with an AR-15 is having a good day or not,” DiCaro wrote.
Extremely tired of people's lives depending on whether a white man with an AR-15 is having a good day or not.
— Julie DiCaro wrote a book (@JulieDiCaro) March 23, 2021
Jhaveri responded with the assertion that “it’s always an angry white man. always.” When police announced the shooter was Syrian-born Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, Jhaveri hurried to delete her tweet. She was not fast enough, however, to keep her job.
Numerous tweets accusing her of racism flooded the conversation, along with those calling for USA Today to fire her. “I’m shocked and appalled that the Race and Inclusion editor at a major newspaper, is, in fact, a racist,” The Rubin Report’s Dave Rubin tweeted, with a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet.
I’m shocked and appalled that the Race and Inclusion editor at a major newspaper, is, in fact, a racist. (And pronouns in bio, of course.) pic.twitter.com/lhP7mKTRj6
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) March 23, 2021
By Friday, Jhaveri announced the outcry had worked, and she was no longer associated with the outlet. “I am no longer employed at USA TODAY, a company that was my work home for almost eight years,” she wrote in an essay published on Medium.
“I wish I were more surprised by it, but I’m not,” she admitted. “Some part of me has been waiting for this to happen because I can’t do the work I do and write the columns I write without invoking the ire and anger of alt-right Twitter.”
After outlining other issues — including what she described as “micro-aggressions and outright racist remarks from the majority white staff” — she allegedly experienced at the outlet, Jhaveri said neglecting the comfort of white readers ultimately led to her dismissal.
“As a columnist and editor, I’ve had to walk the fine line of advocating for diverse and better stories, while also realizing that the comfort of our white audiences needed to be kept top of mind,” she wrote. “On social media, that is what I failed at.”
Outlets want 'diverse voices,' then get upset when those voices draw the ire of the very well-organized right wing outrage machine. https://t.co/8MOeOPaZNq
— Julie DiCaro wrote a book (@JulieDiCaro) March 26, 2021
DiCaro offered public support. “Outlets want ‘diverse voices,’” she tweeted Friday evening, “then get upset when those voices draw the ire of the very well-organized right wing outrage machine.”
USA Today parent company Gannett released a statement to Fox News, stressing the outlet was “founded on the basis of diversity, equity and inclusion.” The spokesperson said the outlet holds its employees “accountable to these principles both personally and professionally.”
“While we can’t discuss personnel matters and don’t want to comment on the specifics of her statements on Medium, we firmly believe in and stand by our principles of diversity and inclusion,” the spokesperson added.
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