CNN reporter apologizes for old tweets containing gay slurs: 'I regret it'

Lauren Holter

A CNN White House correspondent was called out over the weekend for posting tweets in college that contained gay slurs. Reporter Kaitlan Collins apologized on Twitter on Sunday night, saying the tweets don’t “represent the way I feel at all.”

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins apologized Sunday for old tweets that contained gay slurs. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins apologized Sunday for old tweets that contained gay slurs. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

One tweet from 2011 read, “Idk if I wanna room with a lesbian.” Another included the word “fag.”

After the LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans shared screenshots of the old tweets on Twitter (which Donald Trump Jr. retweeted), an anonymous CNN colleague of Collins told the Washington Examiner of being “personally offended” by her comments.

Other journalists voiced support for Collins, however, saying they’re certain the tweets don’t reflect her views on the LGBT community. They also asserted that journalists’ tweets from high school or college aren’t worthy of attention or outrage — though it might be a different story if it were a Supreme Court nominee or a political candidate.

Collins joined CNN in 2017, according to her company bio, and recently made headlines when the White House banned her from a press event because she asked President Donald Trump about Vladimir Putin and Michael Cohen. The White House deemed her questions “inappropriate” for a meeting between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The White House press corps rallied behind Collins and called for White House officials to give journalists full access to the president’s public events, in the same way many reporters have rallied behind her when the old tweets resurfaced.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.