Bye Felicia: WaPo Fires Triggered Reporter Over Public Spat

The Washington Post has reportedly fired journalist Felicia Sonmez after a week of infighting between reporters that aired the Post‘s dirty laundry in front of the world.

Sonmez, who was previously suspended for dancing on Kobe Bryant’s grave and then went on to sue the paper in a now-dismissed lawsuit claiming that she faced job discrimination after going public with her claim to have been sexually assaulted, was fired after stoking heated online arguments between reporters over the paper’s new policy on social-media use, the Daily Beast reports.

The dramatics started after journalist David Weigel retweeted a sexist joke which read: “Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.”

Sonmez tweeted an image of Weigel’s retweet, saying “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!”

Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed! pic.twitter.com/zs4dX4qprH

— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 3, 2022

In addition to Weigel’s one-month suspension without pay, the incident prompted a memo from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee telling employees to play nice – to which WaPo video technician Breanna Muir cheered on Sonmez in a ‘reply all.’

Tension at WaPo remains high today. Video technician Breanna Muir, who was misidentified in a tweet from a colleague as “Breanna Taylor,” sent the following note to the entire newsroom this morning, replying all to Sally Buzbee’s Sunday memo. pic.twitter.com/HVMrsQJAf0

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 6, 2022

On Tuesday, Buzbee sent out yet another company-wide memo, stating that the paper does “not tolerate colleagues attacking colleagues.” Sonmez, meanwhile, continued to tweet, highlighting critical posts from her colleague as a mockery of Buzbee‘s claim to a “collegial workplace.”

Veteran Post reporter Lisa Rein then stepped in to publicly plead with Sonmez: “Please stop.”

That same afternoon, several high-profile Washington Post reporters, including Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker, tweeted about how “proud” they are to work at the newspaper. -Daily Beast

And finally, on Thursday, Sonmez posted a lengthy Twitter thread in which she noted how “the reporters who issued synchronized tweets this week downplaying the Post’s workplace issues have a few things in common,” adding that they are “All white,” and “They are among the ‘stars’ who ‘get away with murder’ on social media.”

Please stop

— Lisa Rein (@Reinlwapo) June 8, 2022

Lessons from the WaPo meltdown:

-The heart of wokeness is envy.
-The domain of wokeness is inter-elite competition.
-The incentives of wokeness lead the privileged to adopt victim identities.
-The results of wokeness are personal neuroticism and institutional dysfunction. pic.twitter.com/w2kQnZRKKh

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) June 9, 2022

Bye Felicia…