A Breitbart editor has lost her job after she posted
anti-Muslim tweets following the London terror attack.
The editor, Katie McHugh, said in a tweet Monday that
“Breitbart News fired me for telling the truth about Islam and Muslim
immigration.”
McHugh, who previously worked at The Daily Caller, was
censured for a tweet Saturday, in which she wrote "there would be no
deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn't live there."
She farther inflamed critics by getting involved in a
twitter spat with actor Pej Vahdat.
"You're a real moron," Vahdat responded to her tweet about Muslims.
"You're an Indian," replied McHugh, to which
Vahdat responded saying that his ethnicity was in fact Iranian-American.
After getting fired, McHugh posted a link
to a fundraising page set up for her on fringe right-wing site WeSearchr,
for donations to cover her living expenses during her unemployment.
McHugh, however, was unapologetic, saying:
“Breitbart News fired an editor for speaking frankly about Islam and Muslim immigration. If there were no Muslims in London, there would be no Muslim terror attacks, period,” she wrote in a statement posted on the site.
“I said nothing wrong. As President Donald Trump says, if we
don’t get smart, it will only get worse.”
McHugh’s colleagues at Breitbart characterized her remarks as
“appalling," "terrible," and "dumb" to CNN.
McHugh has written hundreds of articles for the site since joining
it in 2015.
Breitbart supported Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” and anti-immigration
policies during the presidential election campaign, and in August, the website’s
CEO Steve Bannon was hired by Trump as his campaign director. He was appointed
as Trump’s chief strategist after Trump took office.
The site has been described by Bannon as a “platform” for
the alt-right, a movement of white nationalists and anti-establishment conservatives.
Firing a writer for proclaiming anti-Muslim beliefs might
appear out of character for Breitbart News, which has often stood by its
writers mobbed by criticism from the left on free-speech grounds, judging them
to be victims of political correctness.
However, the controversial writers of the site frequently
make news themselves. In February, Breitbart writer and alt-right
controversialist Milo Yiannopoulos resigned after making comments, which
defended pedophilia.
The news site, which experienced a spike in traffic in the
run-up to the presidential election, has sought to compete directly with more
mainstream publications. In January, Brietbart hired John Carney, an
experienced reporter from The Wall Street Journal to head its finance and
economics section.
Although denied congressional press credentials in April,
the news organization is accredited by the White House.
McHugh asked for comment from Charles Johnson, who formerly
worked at Breitbart News. He questioned why Ms. McHugh had been targeted.
“Why was she singled out for criticism or punishment when
Milo Yiannopoulos and others said far worse things and yet retained their
jobs?” Johnson said.
Although Breitbart has been portrayed as a leader of the far
right, its decision to fire McHugh was criticized by some prominent
conservative commentators on Monday.
“Breitbart fired a journalist to appease fake news media,”
Mike Cernovich tweeted.
“Whatever the reason for firing, Katie McHugh is a great
reporter,” Ann Coulter tweeted.
A Breitbart editor has lost her job
A Breitbart editor has lost her job
