Amber Athey WMAL radio host fired over Kamala Harris outfit joke as conservative journalist blames ‘woke mob’ for her ouster.
Define offensive…? A talk show host has claimed being fired from a Washington D.C. radio station after she made fun of Kamala Harris’ outfit during last month’s State of the Union speech.
Amber Athey, who until recently worked as a radio host on conservative morning news outlet WMAL, said she was axed after posting a tweet about the color of the suit Vice President Kamala Harris was wearing.
‘Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently,’ Athey wrote in the March 1 tweet, referring to an old UPS tagline.
Athey who wrote about the incident for conservative outlet, Spectator World, said the tweet initially didn’t cause ripples, until a few days later.
‘I spoke critically of protests in favor of ‘trans kids’ at the University of North Texas. A group of maniacal left-wing activists who want to chemically castrate children in the name of ‘gender affirmation’ came after me. All of a sudden, the Kamala tweet was being re-framed as racist and dozens of Twitter accounts were bragging about contacting my employers about my “bigotry,”‘ Athey explained in her article for Spectator World.
WTAF?! Conservative station WMAL DC bows to the mob, cancels conservative host Amber Athey over so-called ‘racist’ Kamala Harris joke https://t.co/JiPdJhgYtX via @twitchyteam
— DR.🐰FOO, Esq. (@PolitiBunny) April 4, 2022
Was tweet racist?
The tweet led to the reporter’s bosses at both the radio station and magazine receiving emails demanding Athey be fired.
While her bosses at the magazine laughed the comments off and deleted the emails, seniors at the station where she worked part-time for the last seven months were less forgiving.
‘I received a call out of the blue from Jeff Boden, the vice president of Cumulus Washington, D.C, and Kriston Fancellas, the vice president of Human Resources.
‘They told me that the tweet I sent about Kamala was ‘racist’ and that subsequent follow-ups defending myself and making fun of the efforts to cancel me were unacceptable. I had violated the company’s social media policy, they said, and I was terminated effective immediately,’ Athey wrote.
‘They did not have the courtesy to offer me an opportunity to defend myself, nor did they speak to anyone at the program before handing down their decision.’
Athey in her column said while she is familiar with cancel culture, she prefers to use the term ‘censorship.’
In her post, Athey recounted how as a conservative studying at Georgetown University in D.C., she would often be reported for ‘creating an unsafe environment,’ at the liberal college.
Silencing opponents no matter how
Whilst at the school, Athey said students demanded school administrators cancel events she had been hosting through College Republicans.
So much had the acrimony against the outspoken commentator grown, there were even calls for school administrators to have Athey’s degree revoked.
Wrote Athey: ‘Throughout my six years as a political journalist and commentator, left-wing activists have tried every trick in the book to drive me out of the industry: digging up old tweets, demeaning my appearance and harassing my employers. None of it has worked… until now.’
‘I am sick and tired of conservatives apologizing to the left, staying quiet because they’re afraid of burning bridges, or complaining incessantly without taking action. We will only defeat the left’s bad faith attempts at censorship if we fight back.’
Athey believes she is the latest victim of a ‘dishonest smear campaign’.
‘The people who engage in them do not actually care about stamping out racism, or transphobia, or whatever. They only use those labels because they know they are powerful tools for silencing their opponents.’
Bad faith attempts at censorship?
Since her dismissal from WMAL Radio, Athey says her appeals have all but been ignored.
Bosses at the company has stated ‘the perception of racism was more important than whether or not my tweet was actually racist’ and her firing will not be reversed.
‘All I wanted was my job back, but now I feel obligated to speak publicly about what has happened. This incident has destroyed the integrity and reputation of WMAL and Cumulus as hosts of conservative content. We spoke frequently about the dangers of censorship and cancel culture on our program, and yet here they are bowing to the mob.’
Athey is now calling on conservatives to adopt the same techniques that liberals used to fire her and flood Cumulus and WMAL on Twitter to ‘let them know what you think of their spineless decision-making.’
Contemplated Athey: ‘I am sick and tired of conservatives apologizing to the left, staying quiet because they’re afraid of burning bridges, or complaining incessantly without taking action. We will only defeat the left’s bad faith attempts at censorship if we fight back.’
