Alexi McCammond Resigns From 'Teen Vogue' Over Past Racist Tweets

Journalist Alexi McCammond had a quickly-rising career when she was hired by Condé Nast as the Editor-in-Chief for Teen Vogue. She hadn't even formally stepped into the position when racist and homophobic tweets of hers from 2011 resurfaced online, sparking debate and outrage over Twitter. Now, Alexi has resigned, but people want to know what she said to cause so much controversy.

According to an article from The New York Times, Alexi had previously apologized for and deleted her Tweets in 2019, when she rose to national prominence covering the Biden campaign. 

She had been covering the campaign for political news site Axios and was a previous contributor to both MSNBC and NBC. When Alexi was announced to become the new Editor-in-Chief for Teen Vogue, screenshots of the Tweets were brought to the public. 

Teen Vogue announced that they hired her as Editor-in-Chief on Mar. 5, 2021, and within days, 20 Teen Vogue staff members filed formal complaints against her. 

On Mar. 10, 2021, Alexi posted an apology that was also sent directly to Teen Vogue staff to her Twitter account. She says, "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."

Alexi's first apology was not enough to make up for her past tweets, which included specific remarks about her, "stupid Asian TA" and use of the f-word in regard to LGBTQ+ communities. Especially in the wake of rising hate crimes against Asian-American communities, pressure mounted to terminate Alexi from the position. 

The New York Times says Alexi acknowledged her past tweets in initial interviews with the company, and they had felt her apology in 2019 was sufficient evidence that she had grown from her mistakes.

Despite efforts from Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour to build support for Alexi by having her participate in meetings with Condé Nast staff and other groups to continue to apologize for her past remarks, on Mar. 18, 2021, Alexi resigned from the post with a lengthy statement posted to Twitter. In the statement, she says, "My past tweets have overshadowed the work I've done to highlight people and issues that I care about...and so Condé Nast and I have decided to part ways."

Alexi's decision has been met with controversy on Twitter, with some people acknowledging that the journalist had already apologized for her tweets in 2019, while others point out that some people simply don't make racist comments on Twitter no matter what age they are. 

Ultimately, it sounds like Alexi's decision was the right thing to do, and hopefully, she will make additional statements specifically to the groups targeted in her tweets.

There is no word yet on who will replace Alexi as the Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief, but let's hope whoever is chosen will not have an internet history that they need to apologize for. Until then, Teen Vogue readers will just have to wait and see what happens.