NYT demotes Jewish editor over racially insensitive tweets

The New York Times demotes Jonathan Weisman, the paper’s deputy Washington editor, after social media users complain that the Jewish journalist posted multiple racist tweets.

“Jonathan Weisman met with [Executive Editor Dean Baquet] today and apologized for his recent serious lapses in judgement,” the Times says in a statement. “As a consequence of his actions, he has been demoted and will no longer be overseeing the team that covers Congress or be active on social media.”

In one tweet, since deleted, Weisman implied that several lawmakers of color were not representative of the Midwest and the South. In another, he appeared to tell an African-American politician that she wasn’t black.

“I accept Dean’s judgment,” Weisman tells the Times. “I think he’s right to do what he’s doing. I embarrassed the newspaper, and he had to act.”

New York Times staffer Jonathan Weisman. (YouTube screenshot/via JTA)

Weisman is the author of a book on racism entitled “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.” In an op-ed for JTA published last year, he wrote about how he had “traversed the country to warn of the dangers of rising nationalism, organized bigotry and anti-Semitic hate.”

I can't get over this. It's horrible on so many levels.

What was @jonathanweisman, a Deputy Editor at the New York Times, doing when John Lewis was being beaten, imprisoned, and threatened in the Deep South? pic.twitter.com/dYL0tEBsoO

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 31, 2019

— JTA