Ghanaian-American columnist, Karen Attiah, a longtime contributor to The Washington Post, claims she was fired from the newspaper's Opinions department over social media posts criticising political violence following the assassination of conservative activist, Charlie Kirk.

Attiah, who served as the Post's founding Global Opinions editor, stated in a Substack post on Monday, September 15, 2025, that her dismissal stemmed from "speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns."

The Post, which has been undergoing a major overhaul of its Opinions section, according to CNN, declined to comment on personnel matters but updated her biography to reflect that she "was" a columnist.

The Washington Post Guild also issued a statement condemning the decision, saying; "The Washington Post wrongly fired Opinions columnist Karen Attiah over her social media posts. The Post not only flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes, it also undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech."

Attiah's posts on Bluesky came in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting on September 10, 2025, during an event at Utah Valley University.

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The 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA was killed by a gunman, later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a self-described far-left radical.

In her posts, Attiah lamented America's "insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence," without directly naming Kirk.

She also referenced a 2023 remark by Kirk on affirmative action, where he questioned the "brain processing power" of prominent Black women like Joy Reid and Michelle Obama.

Attiah defended her commentary, noting it received "thoughtful engagement across platforms, support, and virtually no public backlash."

However, two Washington Post staffers told CNN that management flagged her assertion that Kirk "espoused violence" and took issue with her quoting his past remark.

Attiah rejected the Post's accusations of "unacceptable" conduct, "gross misconduct," and endangering colleagues' safety as "charges without evidence."

The dismissal comes on the back of turmoil in the Post's Opinions department, driven by owner Jeff Bezos' push to refocus on "personal liberties and free markets."

Bezos who is currently the world’s third richest man with a net worth of over $240 billion, announced this shift in February 2025, leading to the hiring of new Opinions editor Adam O’Neal and the departure of several columnists.

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Attiah was the last remaining full-time Black opinion columnist at the paper.

Attiah, born to Ghanaian parents and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, rose to prominence at the Post after the 2018 murder of her colleague Jamal Khashoggi.

Her father, a pulmonologist, is Ghanaian, and her mother, also Ghanaian by heritage (though raised partly in Nigeria after fleeing civil conflict at age 14), met him while studying in Ghana before moving to the US.

Attiah spent summers in Ghana visiting family, immersing in the culture, and later earned a Fulbright Scholarship in 2008 to study at the University of Ghana in Accra.

After graduate school, Attiah became a media consultant for the World Bank's Africa program and worked as a freelance reporter for the Associated Press while based in Curacao.

She was hired by the Washington Post in 2014 and became the founding editor of the Washington Post’s Global opinions section in 2016.

She was promoted to the role of Opinions columnist in 2021.

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