Teen Vogue's new editor, 27, issues lengthy public apology and says she's committed to having difficult conversations' after homophobic and racist tweets she wrote as a teenager resurfaced online
Teen Vogue's new editor Alexi McCammond has issued a lengthy public apology after racist and homophobic tweets she wrote as a teenager resurfaced on the internet.
The 27-year-old penned an open letter to the 'Teen Vogue community' on Wednesday, just days after her decade-old tweets sparked debate about whether her new job offer should be revoked.
'What an awful introduction we've had to each other this week,' she wrote in the letter, which she posted across her social media accounts.
'This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life in large part because of the intense pain I know my words and my announcement have caused so many of you.
'I've apologized for my past racist and homophobic tweets and will reiterate that there's no excuse for perpetuating those awful stereotypes in any way.'
Teen Vogue's new editor Alexi McCammond has released a lengthy public apology after racist and homophobic tweets she posted in 2011 resurfaced on the internet
McCammond's resurfaced tweets, which have been widely shared online, include one in which she wrote: 'Googling how to not wake up with swollen Asian eyes'.
Another now-deleted tweet read: 'Give me a 2/10 on my chem problem, cross out all of my work and don't explain what i did wrong… thanks a lot stupid asian T.A. you're great.'
McCammond also used 'gay' and 'homo' as insults online and questioned why an article about baseball umpire Dale Scott coming out as gay was 'newsworthy'.
The tweets are dated from 2011, when McCammond would have been still in high school.
Thr furore comes just weeks after McCammond was embroiled in a separate scandal involving her White House boyfriend TJ Ducklo.
Ducklo, who worked as President Biden's deputy press secretary, was forced to resign from the White House for threatening a Politico journalist who wanted to report on McCammond and Ducklo's secret relationship.
Meanwhile, in Wednesday's lengthy apology, McCammond claimed that she has dedicated her career to 'to giving a voice for the voiceless'.
'The the last thing I want to do is to make anyone — but especially our Asian brothers and sisters in particular — feel more invisible,' she stated.
'I am deeply sorry that our introduction has happened in this way and I'm asking you to judge us based on the work that we do from here on out'.
She added that she was 'committed to having difficult conversations' so that she was 'always bettering herself'.
McCammond's resurfaced tweets, which have been widely shared online, include one in which she wrote: 'Googling how to not wake up with swollen Asian eyes'
The 27-year-old penned an open letter to the 'Teen Vogue community' on Wednesday, just days after her decade-old tweets debate about whether her plum new job offer should be revoked
Earlier this week, about 20 Teen Vogue staffers then penned a letter to parent company Conde Naste slamming McCammond's 'past racist and homophobic tweets'.
McCammond then apologized to her staff in a private email on Monday.
She is due to start in the coveted role on March 26.
In a statement, a Condé Nast spokesman said they were standing by their new hire.
'Alexi McCammond was appointed editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue because of the values, inclusivity and depth she has displayed through her journalism.
'Throughout her career she has dedicated herself to being a champion for marginalized voices. Two years ago she took responsibility for her social media history and apologized.'
Among the posts which have been widely shared online were 'Googling how to not wake up with swollen Asian eyes'
This referenced an incident in 2019 when McCammond also made headlines when she accused former NBA star Charles Barkley of saying to her: 'I don't hit women but if I did I would hit you.'
He was speaking off the record and later apologized for his comments, but it led to his fans digging through McCammond's old tweets in a bid to discredit her.
She said at the time: 'Today I was reminded of some past insensitive tweets, and I am deeply sorry to anyone I offended. I have since deleted those tweets as they do not reflect my views or who I am today.'
McCammond previously work at Axios where she won praise for her coverage of the Trump White House at Axios and in 2019 was named the emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Last month, McCammond's boyfriend TJ Ducklo resigned as White House Deputy Press Secretary after he reportedly threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his secret romantic relationship.
Vanity Fair had revealed that Ducklo had made threats - including 'I will destroy you' - to Politico correspondent Tara Palmeri, who was reporting a piece about Ducklo's romance.
An Axios spokeswoman said at the time that McCammond had disclosed her relationship with Ducklo to her editors in November and was reassigned from a beat covering the White House.
Last month, McCammond's boyfriend TJ Ducklo resigned as White House Deputy Press Secretary after he reportedly threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his secret romantic relationship
At the time, Palmeri had reached out to McCammond to ask her about the romance while one of Palmeri's male colleagues contacted Ducklo about it.
Ducklo called Palmeri, instead of her male colleague, and made the threats in a bid to kill the story.
He told her he would 'destroy' her and accused her of being jealous that an unidentified man in the past had 'wanted to f**k' McCammond 'and not you.'
'I will destroy you,' Ducklo told Palmeri, sources told the magazine, adding that he would ruin her reputation if the story about his relationship was published.
The White House came under fire at the time for initially only deciding to suspend Ducklo for one week without pay, despite Biden's vow of a zero-tolerance policy for abusive behavior in his administration.
Ducklo subsequently resigned.
Ducklo had made threats - including 'I will destroy you' - to Politico correspondent Tara Palmeri (pictured)
