The Washington Post is celebrating this week after finally ridding itself of Karen Attiah. The paper had been trying to end its professional relationship with Attiah since September of last year, when she was fired for making racially charged comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination.
Doing what comes naturally, the disgruntled Karen sued for wrongful termination and eventually won. In August, a private arbitrator ordered the Post to rehire Attiah with full back pay and benefits. She marked the occasion by twerking to "Bitch Better Have My Money," the 2015 R&B hit cowritten by Bibi Bourelly, WondaGurl, Travis Scott, Deputy, Kanye West, and Rihanna.
No one expected that Attiah, a left-wing opinion columnist of limited renown, would ever return to the Post. In 2025, she was among the many journalists who were inconsolably offended after the paper's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, expressed support for "free markets" and "personal liberties."
On Sunday, Attiah confirmed that she had "accepted a settlement with the Post and will move forward with my life and career." She told Status that she "just didn't feel safe returning." Attiah previously expressed concern for her safety in June 2020, when the New York Times published Sen. Tom Cotton's (R., Ark.) op-ed making the case that riots are bad.
All things considered, the Post could not have hoped for a better outcome. They lost the legal battle but got what they wanted in the end. They no longer have to publish Attiah's tedious columns about how [the thing that just happened] is [racist, sexist, or both]. Bezos can afford to eat the cost.
"Karen Attiah wrote two columns in the last three months, and one was about her body-building regimen," a Post staffer told the Free Beacon after the columnist's firing in 2025. "I think the Post will be OK."
Indeed, Attiah's final Post column was a self-congratulatory ode to the "20 pounds of muscle" she'd gained in a "deeply feminine act" of anti-patriarchal resistance. She has fantasized on social media about becoming "more lethal" and having "legs strong enough to crush men's hopes and dreams."
Attiah, who also teaches online courses in "resistance," has argued that strength training is an essential component of anti-colonial activism and has defended acts of political violence committed by her ideological allies. Last year, for example, she insisted on making "no apologies" for supporting the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas.
The financial windfall from the Post settlement will allow Attiah to spend more time musclemaxxing at the gym and training the next generation of resistance warriors. She joins a growing roster of volatile left-wing journalists whom the Post has successfully purged from its masthead, including Philip Bump, Felicia Sonmez, and Taylor Lorenz, who described Attiah as "one of the most brilliant voices still left at the Post."
Lorenz is best know for describing Luigi Mangione, who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024, as a "morally good man."
