NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - A group of Teen Vogue staff members have raised concerns over decade-old racist tweets by their new editor-in-chief Alexi McCammond.
Ms McCammond, 27, a political reporter for Axios and a contributor for MSNBC and NBC, was named the top editor of the Conde Nast publication last Friday (March 5).
Over the weekend, offensive tweets that she had sent as a teenager in 2011 were recirculated on social media.
The tweets were originally uncovered in 2019, and Ms McCammond apologised for them at the time, saying: "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."
In a note posted to Twitter on Monday night, a group of more than 20 Teen Vogue staff members said they had written a letter to Conde Nast management condemning Ms McCammond's "past racist and homophobic tweets".
"In a moment of historically high anti-Asian violence and amid the ongoing struggles of the LGBT community, we as the staff of Teen Vogue fully reject those sentiments," the statement on Twitter read.
"We are hopeful that an internal conversation will prove fruitful in maintaining the integrity granted to us by our audience," it said.
A Conde Nast spokesman said on Monday that Ms McCammond had been appointed editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue because "of the values, inclusivity and depth she has displayed through her journalism".
"Two years ago, she took responsibility for her social media history and apologised," the spokesman said.
Ms McCammond apologised on Monday for her tweets and for the social media backlash in a note sent to the staff, which was supplied by Conde Nast. She is scheduled to start at Teen Vogue on March 24.
"You've seen some offensive, idiotic tweets from when I was a teenager that perpetuated harmful and racist stereotypes about Asian Americans," she wrote.
"I apologised for them years ago, but I want to be clear today: I apologise deeply to all of you for the pain this has caused. There's no excuse for language like that."
Ms McCammond added that she was committed to amplifying the voices of Asian American and Pacific Islander women in the publication.
Ms McCammond was in the headlines recently for her relationship with a White House deputy press secretary, Mr TJ Ducklo.
The couple became involved while Mr Ducklo was the press secretary for Mr Joe Biden's presidential campaign and Ms McCammond was covering the campaign for Axios.
Mr Ducklo resigned from the White House in February after threatening a Politico reporter who was working on a story about the relationship.
