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Politicon 2018

Source: Michael S. Schwartz / Getty

It’s been a little over a month since news quietly broke of Alexi McCammond rejoining Axios as a national political reporter. And she is making the most of her second act as a political journalist covering the progressive movement and, more broadly, the 2022 midterm election. 

An internal memo obtained by The Washingtonian framed the re-hiring of McCammond as welcoming a valued colleague back to the team. Axios editor-in-chief Nick Johnston said there were no excusing McCammond’s old tweets but put them in the context of her time at Axios.  

According to Johnston, the controversial tweets first surfaced in 2019 after McCammond challenged Charles Barkley, saying his misogynistic commentary was not funny.  

“In response, online trolls dredged up some racist tweets by Lexi from when she was in college,” Johnston explained. “Lexi apologized, in public and in person, during a news meeting, and individually to colleagues. She proved in her words and actions to be a thoughtful colleague.” 

But those tweets resurfaced again when McCammond was announced as the new head of Teen Vogue amid reports of rising acts of violence against Asians. Only the Teen Vogue staff, Condé Nast management, and McCammond know what happened in those tense moments.

Publicly she apologized, claiming the past tweets resulted from poor teenage judgment.  Shortly after her departure, news broke that one of the staffers who opposed McCammond’s hiring also had inappropriate old tweets.

Since her very public resignation, McCammond worked with NBC News and has made the rounds on MSNBC, including Morning Joe. In June, she sat down with Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, in an NBC segment called “Know Your Value” about the power in supporting Black women-owned businesses. The Wrap reported McCammond first contributed to the NBC vertical in May. 

Whether it’s the internet’s duty to forgive, McCammond has pushed forward covering the rise of Black women candidates ahead of 2022, including the Ohio special election to replace Secretary Marcia Fudge. 

After resigning from Teen Vogue, McCammond said she was committed to uplifting the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. During her return to Morning Joe in May, McCammond said it had been a painful several weeks for her and acknowledged the pain she caused entire communities when her old tweets resurfaced. 

“The last few weeks have been really painful, to be sure,” McCammond told Morning Joe co-host, Mika Brzezinski, “not just for me but for many folks in the AAPI community and others who are hurt by all of this, and I totally understand that, and I’m just really grateful to have the opportunity to be reporting again on the issues that I care about, to really try to help lift up minority voices and the voices of folks from marginalized communities who might not get the coverage that they deserve otherwise.”

Well, she seems to be quietly at work to live up to that commitment. In a recent segment, McCammond called out the Republican strategy for 2022 as doing nothing but keeping the country embroiled in ‘culture wars’ because they have no actual results.  

Whatever lies ahead for McCammond, she seems to be trying to balance her expressed duty to the communities she hopes to uplift with the lessons from past harm.

See Also:

LeVar Burton Hosting ‘Jeopardy!’ Is Black Joy Personified

If Black Media Doesn’t Tell The Truth About This Nation, It Won’t Be Told

Alexi McCammond Quietly Returns To Axios After Racist, Homophobic Tweets Controversy  was originally published on newsone.com