Kevin Williamson was a controversial hire from the start.
The Atlantic fired recent hire and highly criticized columnist Kevin Williamson, who said people who get abortions should be hanged.
Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg told staff in an email today that while he thought the former National Review correspondent was a “gifted writer,” The Atlantic would be “parting ways” with Williamson after coming to the conclusion that the publication isn’t “the best fit for his talents.”
At first, Williamson’s remark was thought to have lived only on Twitter. Goldberg initially defended hiring Williamson, telling staff in an email that he liked to “give people second chances,” Slate reported. New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens also came to Williamson’s defense, writing that “for heaven’s sake, it was a tweet . ”
Sentiments changed on Wednesday, when Media Matters for America unearthed comments Williamson made on an episode of his National Review podcast in 2014 that he would continue to defend his stance on capital punishment and abortions, adding that what he “had in mind was hanging.”
Goldberg sent out another email to staff today stating that the language used in the podcast as well as in the tweet and in conversations he had with Williamson accurately represented the former columnist’s views.
“The tweet was not merely an impulsive, decontextualized, heat-of-the-moment post, as Kevin had explained it,” Goldberg said. “Furthermore, the language used in the podcast was callous and violent. This runs contrary to The Atlantic’s tradition of respectful, well-reasoned debate, and to the values of our workplace.”
Some took to Twitter to defend Williamson.
The Atlantic’s firing of Kevin Williamson is a disgusting and shameful cave to the pressure of fanatics who seek to live in silos that contain no views counter to their own. This only furthers the partisan divide and is to the detriment of all. — Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) April 5,2018
Kevin Williamson’s firing is a reminder that there are two Americas and one side will stop at nothing to silence the other. This is not about a bad tweet or a bad view. It is about the left wanting a monopoly on the public square so none can be exposed to competing ideas. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) April 5,2018
Others lauded The Atlantic for the decision, with some highlighting their disapproval that Williamson was hired in the first place.
I still believe Williamson never should have been hired, but I’m so glad that @TheAtlantic is now taking this seriously. Most of all, I am very relieved for the women who work at the magazine. — Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) April 5,2018
Another case of seeing and hearing is believing — @TheAtlantic is firing Kevin Williamson after @mmfa dug up video and audio that made it clear his comments about hanging women who have abortions, etc. were not just an errant tweet — Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) April 5,2018
In the memo, Goldberg expressed The Atlantic’s goal to be “a big-tent journalism organization at a time of national fracturing.”
“We will continue to build a newsroom that is, as The Atlantic’s founding manifesto states, ‘of no party or clique,’” Goldberg continued. “We are also an organization that values a spirit of generosity and collegiality. We must strive to uphold that standard as well.”
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Sara Jerde
@SaraJerde
Sara Jerde is a digital media reporter at Adweek.
