New York Times stands by hire despite racist tweets

THE New York Times on Thursday was standing by its latest editorial board hire — despite revelations that she has made some racists tweets aimed at white people.

Tech writer Sarah Jeong has drawn fire in social media for a series of tweets she made several years ago that bashed “dumbass f***ing white people,” whom she derides in another tweet as “groveling goblins.”

The Times does not condone the remarks, it said.

Jeong said she was imitating the language of her online harassers and intended it as “satire” — but now “deeply regrets that I imitated the language of my harassers.”

Jeong, a South Korean native, tweeted in November 2014, “Dumbass f***ing white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.”

In another tweet she asks, “Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like grovelling goblins.”

In a third tweet, Jeong wrote, “Oh man, it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.”

Some took to Twitter to wonder if The Times ever bothered to check her social media background before hiring her.

The Times on Thursday insisted it was aware of the remarks and is standing by her and said her comments were reactions to vicious online bashing attacking her background.

“We hired Sarah Jeong because of the exceptional work she has done covering the internet and technology at a range of respected publications,” The Times said in a statement.

“Her journalism and the fact that she is a young Asian woman have made her a subject of frequent online harassment,” the newspaper added.

“For a period of time she responded to that harassment by imitating the rhetoric of her harassers. She sees now that this approach only served to feed the vitriol that we too often see on social media. She regrets it, and The Times does not condone it.”

The newspaper said it had “candid conversations” with Jeong during the hiring process — and went over her social media history.

“She understands that this type of rhetoric is not acceptable at The Times and we are confident that she will be an important voice for the editorial board moving forward,” the newspaper said.

Jeong said, “I engaged in what I thought of at the time of counter-trolling. While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers.

“These comments were not aimed at a general audience, because general audiences do not engage in harassment campaigns. I can understand how hurtful these posts are out of context, and would not do it again.”