ALEXI McCammond, 27, is a journalist who was recently hired to head up Teen Vogue in the US. She has been embroiled in controversy for a series of old tweets that resurfaced as a result of her hire. Who is Alexi McCammond? Alexi McCammond is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. […]
ALEXI McCammond, 27, is a journalist who was recently hired to head up Teen Vogue in the US.
She has been embroiled in controversy for a series of old tweets that resurfaced as a result of her hire.
Alexi McCammond is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue.
She was formerly a political journalist who worked for Politico and covered Joe Biden’s 2018 midterm elections and presidential campaign for Axios.
She has also been a frequent contributor to NBC and MSNBC.
In her new role she will lead the Teen Vogue team “across digital, video and social media,” according to the New York Times.
A series of anti-Asian tweets that McCammond had posted in 2011 resurfaced on social media in early March 2021.
“Now googling how to not wake up with swollen, asian eyes…,” one of the tweets read.
“Give me a 2/10 on my chem problem, cross out all of my work and don’t explain what i did wrong…thanks a lot stupid asian T.A. you’re great,” another said.
“Outdone by Asian #whatsnew” another said.
The tweets were shared in a now-viral Instagram post by Diana Tsui, an editor at the website “The Infatuation,” who wrote: “I’m tired of big media organizations pretending to give a damn about diversity and inclusion.”
“This especially is a slap in the face given what’s happened to Asian Americans in the past year,” Tsui added,
More than 20 Teen Vogue staffers said in a statement that they penned a letter to parent company Condé Nast calling for McCammond to be removed for her insensitive tweets.
In their public statement, they noted that they had “built our outlet’s reputation as a voice for justice and change” and said: “we take immense pride in our work and in creating an inclusive environment.”
“That’s why we have written a letter to management at Condé Nast about the recent hire of Alexi McCammond as our new editor-in-chief in light of her past racist and homophobic tweets,” the statement read.
“We’ve heard the concerns of our readers, and we stand with you,” it continued. “In a moment of historically high anti-Asian violence and amid the on-going struggles of the LGBTQ community, we as the staff of Teen Vogue fully reject those sentiments.”
McCammond first apologized for the tweets when they circulated in 2019.
She apologized again to staff members in an eemail shared with The Washington Post. “I apologize deeply to all of you for the pain this has caused,” she wrote. “There’s no excuse for language like that.”
In a statement, Condé Nast defended McCammond’s position and highlighted that she had formerly apologized for the posts.
McCammond is dating TJ Ducklo, a political advisor and former White House deputy press secretary for Joe Biden‘s administration.
McCammond covered Biden’s presidential campaign in 2019 and 2020, and got to know Ducklo, who was Biden’s press secretary at the time.
The two began dating in November 2020.
“We both realized we both felt the same way,” Ducklo told PEOPLE.
“We’re both really happy, and we wanted to do it the right way.”
McCammond requested to be taken off the Biden beat after revealing her relationship with Ducklo to her editors.
In 2019, Ducklo was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
On Friday, February 12, Vanity Fair published a report citing two unnamed sources that Ducklo had threatened the Politico reporter to try to suppress the story, telling her “I will destroy you.”
Press secretary Jen Psaki said Ducklo’s conduct was “completely unacceptable”.
“No one wants anyone to feel uncomfortable, to be put in an uncomfortable position,” Psaki said.
In a statement on February 12, Psaki said Ducklo had been suspended without pay with the approval of White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
On February 13, Ducklo resigned from his role as White House deputy press secretary.
