After joking about the sexual assault* of CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan while she was reporting from Egypt, New York University fellow Nir Rosen has resigned, reports the National Review.
“Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line yesterday with his comments about Lara Logan,” wrote Karen J. Greenberg, executive director at NYU’s Center on Law and Security. “I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments. They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable.”
Greenberg said Rosen misunderstood the severity of Logan’s attack and that he’s filed his resignation.
“Mr. Rosen tells me that he misunderstood the severity of the attack on her in Cairo. He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted,” Greenberg wrote. “However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted. We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.”
Rosen received ample backlash for his response to the news that Logan had been sexually assaulted and beaten while she was reporting on Egypt’s unrest. As Egypt celebrated former president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, Logan was separated from the CBS team and assaulted by a gang of men.
“ah fuck it, i apologize for being insensitive, its always wrong, thats obvious, but i’m rolling my eyes at all the attention she will get,” Rosen tweeted Tuesday.
Rosen also tweeted, “jesus christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”
“look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women, which is still wrong, but if it was worse than i’m sorry,” Rosen tweeted, adding, “my wife didnt [sic] dedicate her career to promoting america’s wars.”
Rosen published several tweets of apology in the day leading up to his resignation.
“i apologize and take it back. joking with friends got out of line when i didnt want to back down. forgot twitter is not exactly private,” Rosen tweeted Tuesday.
Rosen says he would like to take back his statements, as he has brought shame to himself and his family. He even urged new Twitter followers to stop following his tweets, saying he is “done tweeting.”
“I know that in a matter of seconds with a thoughtless joke, I brought shame upon myself and my family and added insult to Ms. Logan’s injury,” Rosen tweeted Wednesday.
* Correction: An earlier version of this article included the term “rape.” A CBS source has since told the Wall Street Journal that it was “not a rape.”