WaPo Ordered To Rehire Columnist Fired For Kirk Social Media Posts

In a kick to the shins of censorship, an independent arbitrator ruled that former Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was wrongfully terminated last year over social posts tied to the death of Charlie Kirk, and ordered her reinstated with back pay and lost benefits.

I know many of you will recall there were dozens of stories about folks in various professions being fired for even vaguely vague social media posts in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.

BREAKING:

The Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth after Charlie Kirk’s killing. I fought back.

I’m happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post.

They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately. ✊🏾https://t.co/TISoTvFFO9

— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) August 24, 2026

From the New York Times:

Sarah Miller Espinosa, the arbitrator, said in a written decision Thursday that The Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to terminate Ms. Attiah and “violated” its labor agreement, according to a copy of the decision shared with The New York Times by Ms. Attiah’s lawyers.

“The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct,” Ms. Espinosa wrote.

Ms. Attiah’s remarks about Mr. Kirk’s assassination, which she posted to the social network Bluesky on Sept. 10, the day he was shot, responded to the outpouring of grief after the shooting.

“Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence,” Ms. Attiah wrote in one of the posts.

Attiah says that she hopes the decision “sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”

Read more here.

BREAKING

A private arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to rehire the opinion columnist Karen Attiah, who was fired in September over her social media posts about the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

It also ordered the company to compensate her with back pay.

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— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 4:08 AM