A Daily Beast writer who called White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a “butch queen” on Friday apologized on Monday evening after White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci called him out for the “reprehensible” remark.
After Huckabee Sanders was introduced as the White House’s new press secretary, Daily Beast writer Ira Madison tweeted alongside a picture of her: “Butch queen first time in drags at the ball.”
Madison, as Newsbusters noted, was essentially calling Huckabee Sanders “a gay male (‘butch queen’) dressed as a woman (‘in drags’).”
“Apologies to Sarah H. Sanders for the ill-judged joke tweeted Fri, deleted this AM,” Madison tweeted a few hours after Scaramucci essentially demanded an apology for the White House press secretary. “I didn’t mean to offend anyone & I’m sorry that I did!”
Madison then re-tweeted a bunch of tweets to move the apology down on his Twitter page, making it more difficult to find on his timeline. Despite the fact that Madison denigrated a female, the legacy media were largely silent and did not pile on like they would have had Huckabee Sanders been a liberal.
The @thedailybeast should apologize. The comment is reprehensible.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/ira/status/889665716172931072
John Avlon, the Daily Beast’s Editor-in-Chief, is as sanctimonious as they come, often going on establishment television networks and presenting himself as the oh-so-higher-than-thou neutral arbiter.
“We value an inclusive culture, committed to the public good. A core part of our mission is to confront bullies, bigots and hypocrites,” the Daily Beast’s oh-so-high-and-mighty “Code of Ethics and Standards” reads. “We believe that skepticism is a virtue and cynicism is a vice. Above all, our goal is to tell the truth.”
The same “Code of Ethics and Standards” also says that the Daily Beast’s “reporters or editors’ private social media accounts express personal opinions and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Beast.” But it adds that “engaging in hate speech is not permitted on any platform” and “reporters should take into account that their comments could be construed as undercutting their claim to independence.”
Given the site’s “Code of Ethics and Standards” and Avlon’s insufferable moral preening, it is worth asking why it took Madison three days to delete his tweet and offer Huckabee Sanders an apology.
The Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor told Fox News before Madison apologized that Madison should no longer write for the site after his “disgusting” tweet.
“Since The Daily Beast says it values ‘an inclusive culture, committed to the public good,’ I assume this is the last time Ira Madison III will be writing for them,” he said. “It goes to a larger point. Liberals get away with personal attacks that would ruin the careers of people on the right. This is demented, but watch how little attention it gets from the national press.”
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