The panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday discussed the recent ouster of journalist Alexi McCammond as Teen Vogue’s top editor over controversial tweets she sent as a teenager, decrying the episode as an example of “cancel culture” run amok.
“My god, Mika and I say all the time if Twitter had been around when we were teenagers, well, you wouldn’t know who we are,” host Joe Scarborough said, referring to co-host Mika Brzezinski, as he opened the discussion.
Pundit and columnist Kurt Bardella, who frequents the program, called McCammond’s separation from Teen Vogue a “remarkable act of cowardice” on the part of the outlet’s parent company, Condé Nast.
“And if we’re gonna live in a society where someone can’t be given the opportunity and the room to go through that growth experience, then I don’t know what the hell we’re all doing up here,” Bardella said. “We spend a lot of time calling out hypocrisy … there is such a far departure from what happened to Alexi. Completely different, not even in the same solar system.”
McCammond parted ways with Conde Nast after reports surfaced showing she had sent disparaging tweets about Asians while a teenager in school.
After the tweets were resurfaced, McCammond issued a lengthy apology and promised to do better.
“You’ve seen some offensive, idiotic tweets from when I was a teenager that perpetuated harmful and racist stereotypes about Asian Americans,” McCammond said. “Those tweets aren’t who I am, but I understand that I have lost some of your trust, and will work doubly hard to earn it back. I want you to know I am committed to amplifying AAPI voices across our platforms, and building upon the groundbreaking, inclusive work this title is known for the world over.”
Scarborough highlighted an op-ed in The Atlantic by journalist Graeme Wood about McCammond titled “America has forgotten how to forgive.”
“I suppose a magazine aimed at teens and preteens would strain to acknowledge what every adult knows, which is that the entire point of being a teenager is to make and correct the most mortifying errors of your life,” Wood wrote.
Professor and frequent MSNBC guest Eddie Glaude Jr. added it is important to remember forgiveness “does not mean the denial of consequences.”
“The point is we have to hold off this kind of over-heated virtue that leads to these judgements that cast people into hell forever,” he said, saying he was “horrified” by the controversy surrounding McCammond.
“All of us have said things, I’ve said things that I’ve had to apologize for,” the Rev. Al Sharpton chimed in. “But they will always try and use that in a cancel way … we’ve got to hold people accountable but not try and destroy people because you end up destroying yourself.”