Washington Post Defends Story Dragging Random Woman Into Public Sphere Over Halloween Costume

The Washington Post is defending its 3,000-word article about a random woman, 54, who attended a Post editorial cartoonists’ 2018 Halloween party dressed as Meghan Kelly in blackface. The woman (who will not be named by The Daily Wire) was fired from her employer after she told them about the costume incident, and that the Washington Post was writing a story on it. 
Even though the woman was confronted at the party, left in humiliation, and apologized to the host the next day, The Post decided to run an investigation nearly two years later after Lexie Gruber — one of the party guests who confronted the woman — decided to seek news coverage for it.
“Employees of The Washington Post, including a prominent host, were involved in this incident, which impelled us to tell the story ourselves thoroughly and accurately while allowing all involved to have their say,” a spokesperson for The Washington Post told Fox News in a statement. “The piece conveys with nuance and sensitivity the complex, emotionally fraught circumstances that unfolded at the party attended by media figures only two years ago where an individual in blackface was not told promptly to leave.”
“America’s grappling with racism has entered a phase in which people who once felt they should keep quiet are now raising their voices in public. The story is a microcosm of what the country is going through right now,” said the spokesperson. 
Gruber, who claims to have been harassed by the woman at the party, emailed the Washington Post about her experience at the party, in addition to emailing the host of the party, who she never even met, asking him to reveal the identity of the woman. 
The host initially told Gruber he didn’t know who she was talking about, but later acknowledged that the woman was a friend of his, but that he wouldn’t give over her name. Gruber responded: “Hiding her name is a deliberate act of white privilege and cowardice, not friendship.”
Lyric Prince, a friend of Gruber who confronted the woman at the party, told the Post she isn’t interested in an apology, but wanted the party host to condemn his friend in public: “I want people who read this story to say to themselves, ‘I cannot excuse my friend’s bad behavior because it does reflect on me if I say nothing.’ ”
When the host offered to connect Gruber with the woman, who he indicated “wanted a chance to explain and apologize,” Gruber declined, saying that she wasn’t “comfortable reaching out to a woman who publicly harassed me and my friend — simply because we are not white.”
The story, however, doesn’t present clear evidence that Gruber and her friend were harassed at the party. 
The news agency reported that Prince approached the woman and told her she looked “horrible” as a way of “clapping back” at the costume without directly addressing it. The woman, who has reportedly talked to a therapist over her shame about the costume, claims she nervously laughed off the remarks after Prince “told me that I was ugly and had wrinkles.” 
Gruber then approached the woman to explain the degrading history of blackface, later recalling that “there wasn’t a single person in that party who didn’t hear me when I spoke.” Gruber and Prince left the party after the interaction, as did the woman, who said she herself was crying when she left. 
Prince told the Post that she has sought therapy over the incident: “I felt threatened and physically and emotionally exposed. . . . I felt powerless in a way that I never want to feel again.” The woman told the Post she wants an opportunity to apologize to Gruber, the person who brought the incident to the news agency’s attention. 
“With this story, they’ll get the public humiliation they want, but it won’t foster any real dialogue between us. I wish they would talk to me. I made a mistake, and I understand now that when black people make a mistake, they can get killed,” said the woman. 
Powered by Blogger.