Alexi McCammond, Teen Vogue’s newly-hired editor-in-chief, issued a lengthy statement apologizing for past tweets in an effort to try and win over staffers pushing for her ouster.
Teen Vogue staffers signed a letter to management Monday pushing back on McCammond’s hiring due to her “past racist and homophobic tweets.” The magazine’s parent company Condé Nast has so far stood by McCammond, who originally apologized and deleted the offending tweets in 2019.
Despite another apology and Condé Nast’s backing, the backlash does not yet seem to have died down. McCammond tweeted a note she sent to those at Teen Vogue on Wednesday and apologized profusely to her subordinates.
“This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life, in large part because of the intense pain I know my words and my announcement have caused so many of you,” McCammond wrote. “As I’ve been having a number of conversations internally with the staff and others outside of Condé Nast, I’ve also been watching, reading, and listening to so many of your concerns that you’ve raised. I’ve apologized for my past racist and homophobic tweets and will reiterate that there’s no excuse for perpetuating those awful stereotypes in any way.”
“I am so sorry to have used such hurtful and inexcusable language,” she continued. “At any point in my life, it’s totally unacceptable. I hear that you’re hurt, angry, confused, and skeptical of how we move on from here. I probably would be too if I were you.” (RELATED: Biden’s Deputy Press Secretary Resigns After Drama Over Allegations That He Intimidated Politico Reporter)
I hope you’ll read this note from me to the @TeenVogue community, staff, readers, writers, photographers, content creators, and friends: https://t.co/ROoovqQHLX pic.twitter.com/85T8XBJULn
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) March 11, 2021
Despite the drama over McCammond’s old tweets – which were written when she was a teenager – the staff issued no such open letter or revolt for the paid propaganda from Saudi Arabia that briefly appeared in “error,” according to The Wrap, on the Teen Vogue front page Tuesday. Nor did their moral outrage mention McCammond’s relationship with an official on the presidential campaign she was covering. (That official, TJ Ducklo, later resigned after being accused of berating a Politico reporter about her sex life in a series of threats over the McCammond relationship story.)
Prior to McCammond’s gig at Teen Vogue, she worked at Axios covering then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign. McCammond was reassigned at some point after she began dating Ducklo, who worked as the campaign press secretary at the time.
She is supposed to officially begin her role at Teen Vogue later in March, The New York Times previously reported.