We regret to inform you that The Washington Post’s nearly week-long internal drama has made its way to The View.
According to the daytime talk show, Felicia Sonmez, the WaPo reporter crusading on Twitter against her paper’s management, has been “really disappointing” and needs to learn that “Twitter is not the real world.”
Over the past week, the Post suddenly found itself mired in a “clusterfuck” that began when national political correspondent David Weigel retweeted a sexist joke. After Sonmez, a political reporter, publicly called him out, Weigel removed the post and apologized both internally and publicly. The drama, however, had only just begun.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sonmez and fellow reporter Jose Del Real then traded barbs on Twitter over her criticism of Weigel. The controversy only continued to snowball from there after top editor Sally Buzbee ordered the reporters to play nice and, eventually, hit Weigel with a month-long suspension.
Sonmez, who unsuccessfully sued the paper for discrimination earlier this year, urged that additional action be taken against Del Real, who blocked her on Twitter after briefly deactivating his account. On Tuesday, Buzbee sent out yet another company-wide memo, stating that the paper does “not tolerate colleagues attacking colleagues.” Sonmez, meanwhile, has continued to tweet while mockingly using Buzbee’s claim that the Post “is a collegial workplace,” prompting one veteran reporter to plead: “Please stop.”
During Wednesday’s broadcast of The View, lead host Whoopi Goldberg—no stranger to controversy herself—kicked off the discussion by acknowledging she had already “lost the whole trail” on the seemingly unending drama.
Conservative guest-host Lindsey Granger, meanwhile, took issue with Sonmez seeming to center the story on herself. “It gets lost on me that people make themselves the story when that’s the number one thing you’re taught not to do,” she declared. Additionally, she brought up Sonmez’s own brief suspension for tweets about Kobe Bryant’s death, stating that she’s “living in a glass house” by going after other colleagues for their posts.
“Her tone is really disappointing,” co-host Sara Haines agreed. “Because one of her other colleagues calls out and says, please stop doing this.”
Liberal co-host Joy Behar admitted she was of “two minds” on this issue. While she admonished Weigel for “putting out sexist jokes,” telling him to “grow up,” she also suggested Sonmez is trying to obtain “more clout” at the paper with her actions.
Sunny Hostin, for her part, also took aim at Sonmez’s tweets.
“Twitter is not the real world,” the longtime View host stated. “22 percent of the United States is on Twitter, and of that 22 percent, even fewer are active. I don’t know why she is so intent on fighting sexism and discrimination and harassment [on Twitter]. Why not write an article for The Washington Post, which is where you’re employed?”
