POLITICO fired their foreign policy reporter, Julia Ioffe, Wednesday night after she posted an obscene Tweet mocking Ivanka Trump’s new White House office – the digs typically reserved for the First Lady.
In a statement, POLITICO noted that they were terminating Ioffe’s contract “effective immediately” following her social media commentary, and that “incidents like this tarnish POLITICO and the great work being done across the company.”
Scolding message from Politico's leadership on Julia Ioffe's Trump tweet from today: Contract terminated immediately. pic.twitter.com/Zz8fGfmukr
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) December 14, 2016
Ioffe apologized on Twitter, saying her phrasing was indelicate.
We have a president-elect who popularized "saying what everyone is thinking," but I guess my phrasing should've been more delicate.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
But also sort of implying that Donald Trump censored her Tweet.
In Russia, the Kremlin rarely has to make the call to media organizations. The media bosses anticipate and do the censoring themselves.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
All that said, I do regret my phrasing and apologize for it. It was a crass joke that I genuinely regret.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
It was a tasteless, offensive tweet that I regret and have deleted. I am truly and deeply sorry. It won't happen again.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
Back in May, Ioffe clashed with Donald Trump’s supporters over her profile of Melania Trump for GQ magazine. Members of the alt-right on social media flooded Ioffe with anti-Semitic messages, Photoshopped her into WWII-era photos of Nazi Concentration Camps, and threatened Ioffe with real world violence.
Ioffe will not have to draw unemployment for very long. She starts at The Atlantic, covering politics and foreign policy, on Monday. And they are still fine with her coming on board.
Here's our statement on Julia Ioffe tweet: pic.twitter.com/LWJDW2frHw
— Emily Lenzner (@Elenzner) December 15, 2016
