Atlantic Editor Defends Writer Who Said Women That Get Abortions Should Be Hanged

Kevin Williamson Image by YouTube

By Ari Feldman March 27, 2018

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic magazine, is defending his decision to hire a conservative writer who once advocated hanging women who get abortions in a tweet, Slate reported.

The magazine’s hiring of Kevin Williamson, formerly a writer for the National Review, raised eyebrows when it was revealed last week. Williamson is a fierce anti-Trump conservative, but has been criticized for making racially insensitive comments.

Goldberg, who used to work for the Forward, defended Williamson’s tendency to post offensive tweets in a memo sent to Atlantic staff. (Williamson no longer has a Twitter account.)

“I don’t think that taking a person’s worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation is the best journalistic practice,” Goldberg wrote. “I have read most, or much, of what he has written; some of his critics have not done the same. I would also prefer, all things being equal, to give people second chances and the opportunity to change.”

On Twitter, Goldberg’s statements were roundly criticized.

How many female staffers at @TheAtlantic have had abortions? Is Goldberg comfortable with forcing them to work with a man who thinks they should be hanged?

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 27, 2018

New hire by @JeffreyGoldberg for @TheAtlantic, Kevin WIlliamson, compared a black child to a “primate” and a “three-fifths-scale Snoop Dogg” and suggested women who had abortions should be hanged. Goldberg says this brings ideological diversity. https://t.co/3EF0lqPr02

— Eli Clifton (@EliClifton) March 27, 2018

Goldberg defended Williamson by saying he speaks for a marginalized community.

“I happen to think that conservatives made ideologically homeless by the rise of Trump are some of the most interesting people in America, and I want to read them whenever I can,” Goldberg said.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO