Joy Reid is facing intense scrutiny over alleged blog posts she made with homophobic comments.

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LGBTQ organization rescinds its award to Joy Reid in light of alleged homophobic posts

The journalist is facing serious consequences over an alleged series of anti-LGBTQ sentiments.

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Ana Valens

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Posted on Apr 26, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 5:24 pm CDT

MSNBC host Joy Reid is under fire this week after a Twitter user says they unearthed another set of homophobic blog posts in which the journalist rejects gay marriage, claims LGBTQ groups exploit teens, and calls gay sex “gross.”

The controversy began in December after Twitter user Jamie_Maz first found “a dozen homophobic posts” that attempted to out former Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist as gay from Reid’s defunct blog The Reid Report. The posts, which were found through the Internet Wayback Machine, show Reid calling Crist “Miss Charlie” and making derogatory comments about “gay politicians.” Reid apologized for the blog posts in an official statement late last year.

“This note is my apology to all who are disappointed by the content of blogs I wrote a decade ago, for which my choice of words and tone have legitimately been criticized,” Reid said in Decemebr. “Re-reading those old blog posts, I am disappointed in myself. I apologize to those who also are disappointed in me.”

Reid’s apology was received well at the time. But earlier this month, Jamie_Maz shared more posts allegedly from The Reid Report, this time “far worse than 1st reported.” These show Reid opposed gay marriage and randomly accused politicians and media figures, some of which are actually in the closet, of being gay. One post even featured a strangely anti-Semitic remark claiming most neoconservatives “happen to be Jewish.”

“Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing,” Reid allegedly wrote in the late 2000s. “Part of the intrinsic nature of ‘straightness’ is that the idea of homosexual sex is… well… gross… even if you think that gay people are perfectly lovely individuals.”

Reid’s old tweets further echo the alleged blog posts’ tone. In one tweet from 2010, Reid jokingly called Ann Coulter a “shim,” a derogatory term aimed at transgender women. Another features a Gawker headline with the word “tranny” in the title.

https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/19374227866

Reid has since denied writing the alleged posts on The Reid Report, claiming in an official statement to Mediaite that “an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material” from the blog as “part of an effort to taint my character with false information.”

But many remain skeptical. Renowned LGBTQ organization PFLAG released a statement on Tuesday announcing that it would rescind its Straight for Equality in Media award to Reid, pointing out that PFLAG accepted her apology in December but feels her handle on the current controversy warrants concern.

“We appreciated how she stepped up, took ownership, apologized for [her Crist posts], and did better—this is the behavior and approach we ask of any ally,” PFLAG National president Jean Hodges said in a press release. “However, in light of new information, and the ongoing investigation of that information, we must at this time rescind our award to Ms. Reid.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Beast’s executive editor Noah Shachtman told his staff on Wednesday that the website decided to “hit pause” on Reid’s columns while two reporters are “digging in and reporting on the accusations,” an email obtained from CNN’s Oliver Darcy reveals. One reporter is investigating whether Reid was actually hacked, and another is looking into Reid’s longer history with her “tone she took offline at the time.”

“Obviously, this is a difficult situation,” Shachtman wrote. “We’ve all said and done things in our lives that we wish we hadn’t done. We deserve the room to grow beyond our past. But these allegations are serious enough that they deserve a full examination.”

The internet, meanwhile, remains conflicted on Reid. Some feel her comments are deeply homophobic, transphobic, and bigoted. They doubt the hacking claims and think she owes a much more sincere apology.

https://twitter.com/MavenOfMayhem/status/988799858906558465

https://twitter.com/55Counties/status/989335490691121152

https://twitter.com/bourgeoisalien/status/989499398735482880

https://twitter.com/BillGubrud/status/989520892865728513

Others, jounalists included, are taking her side.

https://twitter.com/kenolin1/status/989328810721054720

Even WikiLeaks is getting involved.

It’s unclear what will happen next to Reid, but her days as an MSNBC host could be running out. i24News anchor and managing editor David Shuster, who previously anchored for MSNBC, claims NBC and MSNBC are outright considering firing Reid for “alleged lies over her inflammatory blog history.” If that’s the case, then AM Joy may soon be a thing of the past.

H/T CBS News

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*First Published: Apr 26, 2018, 11:44 am CDT

Ana Valens

Ana Valens is a reporter specializing in online queer communities, marginalized identities, and adult content creation. She is a former Daily Dot staff writer. Her work has appeared at Vice, Vox, Truthout, Bitch Media, Kill Screen, Rolling Stone, and the Toast. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and spends her free time developing queer adult games.

Ana Valens