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Bye, Felicia!
According to various accounts, the Washington Post fired political writer Felicia Sonmez on Thursday after she spent the previous week harshly criticizing her coworkers and the paper's leadership.
Sonmez did not reply quickly to a request for comment. Katie Robinson of CNN, the Daily Beast, and the New York Times reported on her dismissal.
The Washington Post's chief communications officer, Kris Coratti Kelly, told The New York Post, "We do not discuss personnel concerns."
Sonmez, who has been with the paper for a decade, made waves last Friday when she chastised colleague political reporter Dave Weigel for retweeting a sexist joke. Weigel later apologized and was suspended for a month without pay.
Sally Buzbee, Executive Editor of the Washington Post, cautioned reporters on Tuesday to maintain a "collegial" workplace and avoid from assaulting colleagues on Twitter.
However, Sonmez resorted to Twitter again on Thursday to criticize Post reporters for promoting the Jeff Bezos-owned publication as a "collegial" workplace and "downplaying the Post's workplace difficulties."
According to the Harvard-educated journalist, the reporters who "sent synchronized tweets... are all white" and are "among the highest-paid employees in the newsroom, earning twice and even treble what some other National desk writers, notably journalists of color, make."
Many of her coworkers had become tired of Sonmez's social media blitz, according to Vanity Fair on Wednesday.
“Working at a huge news organization — the Post, the New York Times, CNN — is like living in a big city where there are always emergencies,” one staffer told the outlet.
“As a colleague, you probably should be trying to help fund the fire department or city services and make it a better place to live; at worst, you’re not paying your taxes,” another said.
“And then you have Felicia, who is essentially pouring gasoline on every fire and inviting people to watch.”
The article described an event in which Sonmez received a "reply all" email from Matea Gold, the national editor of the Washington Post, in which the reporter claimed she was "punished [in 2018] after I told an editor that I needed to go around the block after reading a difficult piece."
She linked to the Vanity Fair article in what appears to be her final tweetstorm before being fired.
She accused the newspaper of "punishing reporters for their trauma" and "dissuading them from obtaining necessary aid."
“I care deeply about my colleagues, and I want this institution to provide support for all employees,” Sonmez tweeted.
“Right now, the Post is a place where many of us fear our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions,” she said.
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