GQ Writer Regrets Tweet Calling for Covington Students to Be Doxxed
A GQ writer says he regrets a now-deleted tweet in which he called for doxxing the Covington Catholic High School students involved in a confrontation with a Native American elder.
In a statement to TheWrap, GQ’s Nathaniel Friedman wrote:
It was an irresponsible and stupid tweet that happened in the heat of the moment because I was upset. It partly came from having been doxxed by MAGA people myself but that’s no excuse and no one should wish that on anybody else. It’s counterproductive to say anything along those lines and if you make yourself look like an irrational, mean idiot you’re playing right into their hands.
Also Read: Covington High Student Says He Never Sought Staredown With Native American Elder
Passions ran high on social media Saturday after video emerged of several students from Covington, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, surrounding a Native American elder who was in Washington, D.C. for the Indigenous Peoples’ March. Many viewers believed the teens were attempting to taunt the elder, Nathan Phillips.
On Sunday, additional video showed that Phillips had walked up to the teenagers. He said he was trying to defuse a confrontation between them and another group. One of the teens, Nick Sandmann, issued a statement saying he had not sought the confrontation and bore no ill will to Phillips.
When RealDailyWire senior editor Emily Zanotti tweeted Saturday to urge those upset with the students not to dox them by revealing their personal information, Friedman replied: “Doxx ‘em all.” His tweet is archived here.
He later said in another post to a separate Twitter user: “[You’ve] tried to get me doxxed for saying people should be doxxed, that’s not hypocritical at all.”
Also Read: Vulture Writer on Covington Students: 'I Just Want These People to Die, Simple as That'
Friedman is a frequent contributor GQ. His most recent piece for the site went up Monday. A rep for GQ’s parent company, Condé Nast, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
A Twitter representative told TheWrap that Friedman’s call to doxx was not a violation of the company’s terms of service and that only the action itself would be a violation — for the doxxer, not the person who called for doxxing.
“Posting a person’s private information without their express permission is a direct violation of the Twitter Rules,” the company told TheWrap.
Friedman is not the only writer at a major news outlet to issue a passionate response to the Covington Catholic students. At the height of the furor, Vulture contributor Erik Abriss tweeted out his wish to see all of the Covington teenagers and their parents die.
“I don’t know what it says about me but I’ve truly lost the ability to articulate the hysterical rage, nausea, and heartache this makes me feel. I just want these people to die. Simple as that. Every single one of them. And their parents,” Abriss said in a tweet on Saturday.
Representatives for Vulture declined to comment.
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