Ta-Nehisi Coates to Atlantic Staff: I ‘Failed’ Writers of Color by Backing Kevin Williamson

Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic told his colleagues in an off-the-record discussion that he “failed” writers of color after backing the hiring of conservative writer Kevin Williamson. “I feel like I kind of failed The Atlantic in that advice. I feel like I failed the writers of color here in that advice,” Coates said, according to a transcript obtained by HuffPost. Williamson was hired but quickly fired by the publication after a public uproar over his controversial remarks about abortion. “I was not like, don’t hire that dude. To the contrary, I thought, OK, well he can come in and represent the position, and then we can fight it out,” Coates said.