Teen Vogue‘s new editor-in-chief, Alexi McCammond, is not being welcomed with open arms. Several staffers and celebs have called her out for past racist and anti-gay remarks; she joined as EIC on March 5th.
Diane Tsui, an editorial director at Infatuation, kicked things off a few days ago, posting anti-Asian tweets she wrote in 2011.
“thanks a lot stupid asian T.A. you’re great,” she wrote in one, about a bad grade on a college assignment. “now googling how to not wake up with swollen, asian eyes…,” she wrote in another.
Others criticized tweets that used words like “gay” and “homo” as insults.
More than 20 Teen Vogue staff members posted a message to social media on Monday, March 8, saying they had written to the publishing house Condé Nast 's leadership about McCammond, “in light of her past racist and homophobic tweets.” “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,” they wrote. “We are hopeful that an internal conversation will prove fruitful in maintaining the integrity granted to us by our audience.”
Olivia Munn and Daniel Dae Kim are among the Asian celebrities standing “in solidarity with the staff of Teen Vogue, and want to thank them for speaking out against anti-Asian racism.”
She has apologized for the tweets in a memo to staff. Condé Nast has a history of problematic editors. Bon Appetit EIC Adam Rapaport resigned over racist behavior.
