Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said on Monday, Sept. 15, that she had been let go by her employer over a series of social media posts she made following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on Substack, Attiah said that she was "being silenced" following the series of posts that focused on gun control and race following Kirk's assassination on Sept. 10.

"As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction," Attiah wrote. "Now, I am the one being silenced — for doing my job."

According to Attiah, she only referenced Kirk in one of her posts on Bluesky.

In that post, the columnist shared a screenshot of a quote in which Kirk said several prominent Black women, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, did "not have (the) brain processing power to be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot."

When contacted by USA TODAY, a Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment, saying the media outlet did not "comment on personnel matters."

In a series of posts, the Washington Post Guild condemned the firing of Attiah, calling it a wrongful firing and saying that they would stand with her.

"The Washington Post wrongly fired Opinions columnist Karen Attiah over her social media posts," the Guild said.

According to Attiah’s Washington Post profile, she had been with the newspaper for over a decade, joining in 2014.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah says she was fired over Charlie Kirk posts

Reporting by Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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