Teen Vogue has hired a Black woman to replace their previous executive editor, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, who resigned last month following a tumultuous period for the outlet surrounding the hiring of an editor-in-chief whose old social media activity resurfaced and riled staff and advertisers.
On Wednesday, Teen Vogue sent out a tweet announcing Danielle Kwateng as its new executive editor. “We appreciate your patience as we’ve navigated the last few weeks,” the tweet read. “Please take a moment to read this important letter from our newly appointed executive editor, Danielle Kwateng.”
In the letter, Kwateng shared her two-year journey with the company and how their focus shifted in recent years. “The 2016 election of Donald Trump recentered our focus on storytelling that explains, interrogates, and uplifts those who are often misunderstood and misrepresented,” Kwateng explained. “Across all of our sections, we’ve reported on topics like Indigenous rights, immigration, Black Lives Matter, sustainability, pop culture, sexuality, and more with a fresh lens that always centers on young people’s perspectives.”
She went on to address the scandal over Alexi McCammond’s old tweets. McCammond had been hired as the outlet’s new editor-in-chief but resigned after her old racially insensitive tweets were resurfaced. “We at Teen Vogue have read your comments and emails and we have seen the pain and frustration caused by resurfaced social media posts,” Kwateng said.
McCammond has since deleted the controversial tweets from ten years ago, but screenshots were reposted after her position at Teen Vogue was announced, Yahoo reports. One deleted tweet allegedly read, “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.” McCammond was also accused of sending out tweets that used the words “gay” and “homo.”
In response to Kwateng’s letter and hiring, filmmaker Tarique Nasheed called out Teen Vogue on Twitter for firing Alexi McCammond over her old controversial tweets but seemingly ignoring the anti-Black tweets allegedly sent out by their Asian staff member Christine Davitt. “Teen Vogue thinks that hiring a non-Foundational Black American editor, we will ignore the anti-Black tweets from their Asian staff member @christinedavitt and how the company is protecting HER,” Nasheed said. “But they fired another Black woman for her tweets mentioning the word “Asian”.”
Teen Vogue thinks that hiring a non-Foundational Black American editor, we will ignore the anti-Black tweets from their Asian staff member @christinedavitt and how the company is protecting HER..But they fired another Black woman for her tweets mentioning the word "Asian" https://t.co/vNp3VXQLhy
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) April 7, 2021