Alexi McCammond has stepped down from the role of Teen Vogue’s Editor-In-Chief a week before she was about to start her tenure at the Conde Nast. This decision came in less than two weeks of her appointment over her controversial anti-Asian and homophobic tweets from 2011. Amid the surge of violence towards the Asian American community, netizens, as well as the Teen Vogue staff, mounted pressure on Conde Nast to take an action.
Following a brief discussion, Alexi has agreed to ‘part ways’ from the magazine mutually but feels that her work has been overshadowed by those tweets from the past which she takes full responsibility for. “My past tweets have overshadowed the work I’ve done to highlight the people and issues that I care about - issues that Teen Vogue has worked tirelessly to share with the world - and so Condé Nast and I have decided to part ways”, read her tweet.
Hey there: I’ve decided to part ways with Condé Nast. Here is my statement about why - pic.twitter.com/YmnHVtZSce
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) March 18, 2021
“I should not have tweeted what I did and I have taken full responsibility for that. I look at my work and growth in the years since, and have redoubled my commitment to growing in the years to come as both a person and as a professional.” In her statement, she said, “I became a journalist to help lift up the stories and voices of our most vulnerable communities. As a young woman of color, that’s part of the reason I was so excited to lead the Teen Vogue team in their next chapter,” Alexi added.
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According to leaked screengrabs on Twitter, Alexi’s old tweets, dated back to 2011 read “Now googling how to not wake up with swollen, Asian eyes” and “Give me a 2/10 on my chem problem, cross out all of my work and don’t explain what I did wrong… thanks a lot stupid Asian T.A. you’re great.”
Conde Nast also confirmed Alexi’s exit from Teen Vogue. “After speaking with Alexi this morning, we agreed that it was best to part ways, so as to not overshadow the important work happening at Teen Vogue,” read an internal email by chief people officer at Condé Nast, Stan Duncan. As reported by Variety, Stan Duncan said that Alexi was “straightforward and transparent about these posts during our interview process and through public apologies years ago.”
Though she deleted these tweets 2 years ago, the screenshots recirculated after her appointment at Conde Nast. Last week, a group of 20 plus Teen Vogue staff posted a statement on Twitter saying that they have complained against Alexi’s offensive tweets to the Conde Nast Management. “In a moment of historically high anti-Asian violence and amid the ongoing struggles of the LGBTQ community, we as the staff of Teen Vogue fully reject these sentiments,” the group said in the statement.
(Source- Variety)
