The New York Times deleted tweets Wednesday which, they claimed, were in violation of their “social media guidelines.” The tweets were in response to an unverified Twitter account joking that whoever completes the crossword puzzle first on any given day is permitted to “execute one pundit of your choice.”
“[I]f you’re the first to complete the [N]ew [Y]ork [T]imes crossword puzzle on any given day and are able to deliver conclusive evidence of this feat, the NYT editorial staff allow you to execute one pundit of your choice. full legal amnesty and all,” the popular twitter user who goes by “a paw stamping on a human face forever” tweeted on Tuesday.
“Woah there, cowperson,” the NYT’s “wordplay” twitter account responded. “We don’t joke about executing journalists around these parts.”
i need to preserve the beauty of this whole exchange in case they decide to delete it all pic.twitter.com/VJNdgvvE0C
— a paw stamping on a human face forever (@DxGGEAUX) April 9, 2019
The two exchanged multiple tweets leading the NYT to tweet, “Like I said, a ‘joke’ about executing journalists is the height of unfunny, especially when you’ve gone through active shooter training as I have. @MollyJongFast, @MaraWilson, you really follow this person?”
Wilson and Jong-Fast, who were both called out by the Times, responded. Wilson stated, “For the record, I am against executing anyone, especially journalists. I do not believe in executing pundits, either, though I believe they are VERY different than journalists and often actively make the world a worse place to be. And I find @DxGGEAUX funny,” while Jong-Fast questioned where she was.
The user responded, “I personally consider myself politically anti-journalist execution.”
We’ve deleted some tweets from yesterday that were against our social media guidelines for the newsroom.
— NYTimes Wordplay (@NYTimesWordplay) April 10, 2019
The Times deleted the tweets Wednesday and explained, “We’ve deleted some tweets from yesterday that were against our social media guidelines for the newsroom.”
