CNN reporter apologizes for old tweets containing gay slurs: 'I regret it'
A CNN White House correspondent was called out over the weekend for posting tweets in college that contained gay slurs. Reporter Kaitlan Collins apologized on Twitter on Sunday night, saying the tweets don’t “represent the way I feel at all.”
When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends. It was immature but it doesn’t represent the way I feel at all. I regret it and apologize.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 7, 2018
One tweet from 2011 read, “Idk if I wanna room with a lesbian.” Another included the word “fag.”
After the LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans shared screenshots of the old tweets on Twitter (which Donald Trump Jr. retweeted), an anonymous CNN colleague of Collins told the Washington Examiner of being “personally offended” by her comments.
Other journalists voiced support for Collins, however, saying they’re certain the tweets don’t reflect her views on the LGBT community. They also asserted that journalists’ tweets from high school or college aren’t worthy of attention or outrage — though it might be a different story if it were a Supreme Court nominee or a political candidate.
I’m a proud gay man. And I am a proud friend of @kaitlancollins. Tho I’m disappointed that she ever used the word (even as an immature college kid), I can say with certainty it doesn’t reflect her feelings toward the LGBTQ community. She’s apologized and I accept that.
— Matt Dornic (@mdornic) October 7, 2018
Come on, folks. @kaitlancollins is a great reporter, but far more than that, a good person. I stand by her as a friend and a colleague. Enough. https://t.co/XaY7g13KMK
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) October 8, 2018
3. So I would even consider statements made by a nominee when they were 19 as newsworthy. Same for POTUS/ most elected officials. But a news reporters dumb tweets when they were 19 aren't newsworthy to me…whether they work at Fox or CNN. And @kaitlancollins apologized.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 8, 2018
Collins joined CNN in 2017, according to her company bio, and recently made headlines when the White House banned her from a press event because she asked President Donald Trump about Vladimir Putin and Michael Cohen. The White House deemed her questions “inappropriate” for a meeting between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The White House press corps rallied behind Collins and called for White House officials to give journalists full access to the president’s public events, in the same way many reporters have rallied behind her when the old tweets resurfaced.
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