NYT sorry for Kavanaugh tweet
‘Harmless fun’ comment raised ire
When the New York Times revealed a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh this weekend, the political world was thrown into turmoil. Democrats, including several presidential candidates, called for further investigations and impeachment, while President Donald Trump and top Republicans staunchly defended the embattled judge.
The Times also weathered fierce criticism over how it framed the news and promoted it on social media. On Sunday, the newspaper apologized for a tweet that said the type of misconduct in the claim against Kavanaugh “may seem like harmless fun” and updated the article to reflect that the woman at the center of the latest allegation reportedly does not recall the incident.
The Times wrote that the tweet “was clearly inappropriate and offensive. We apologize … and are reviewing the decision-making with those involved.”
Drawing on reporting from a coming book by two Times reporters, Saturday’s piece focused largely on Deborah Ramirez, who last year accused the then-Supreme Court nominee of exposing himself to her at a dorm party at Yale University in the 1980s. The article was published in the Times’ Opinion section.
Through their reporting, the writers said, they corroborated Ramirez’s account with at least seven people and uncovered an allegation that Kavanaugh displayed inappropriate behavior toward another woman in college. A classmate named Max Stier alleged he saw Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different dorm party, where, he said, friends pushed Kavanaugh’s penis into the hand of a female student. The reporters wrote that senators and the FBI were aware of Stier’s claim, but the FBI did not investigate. (Last year, The Washington Post independently confirmed that lawmakers and authorities knew of the claim but did not publish a story because the alleged witnesses were not identified and the woman said to be involved declined to comment.)
Kavanaugh has denied the previous allegations and declined to speak about the newly surfaced account.
Backlash against the Times came shortly after the publication’s opinion account tweeted the story with a message that read in part, “Having a penis thrust in your face … may seem like harmless fun.”