Alexi McCammond, a former Axios reporter who made headlines over her relationship with a former White House aide, resigned as editor-in-chief for Teen Vogue following public backlash from her subordinates.
McCammond previously worked at Axios as a reporter covering then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign. She was “reassigned” by Axios at some point leading up to Biden’s inauguration after news broke that she was dating then-White House aide TJ Ducklo.
Teen Vogue announced McCammond’s hiring earlier in March and she was slated to officially begin March 24. The announcement quickly sparked a public revolt among staffers at Teen Vogue over McCammond’s “past racist and homophobic tweets.” She previously apologized for and deleted the tweets in question, which she said were written during her teenage years, in 2019. (RELATED: Teen Vogue’s Newly-Hired Top Editor Begs Her Staff For Forgiveness In Groveling Email)
“My past tweets have overshadowed the work I’ve done to highlight the people and issues that I care about – issues that Teen vogue has worked tirelessly to share with the world – and so Conde Nast and I have decided to part ways,” McCammond announced in a statement Thursday on Twitter.
Hey there: I’ve decided to part ways with Condé Nast. Here is my statement about why – pic.twitter.com/YmnHVtZSce
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) March 18, 2021
The move is a quick turnaround for Condé Nast, as the publisher for Teen Vogue originally backed McCammond’s hiring even after public outcry from staffers. Condé Nast announced the decision to part ways with McCammond in an internal email “sent amid pressure from the publication’s staff, readers and at least two advertisers,” according to The New York Times.
“After speaking with Alexi this morning, we agreed that it was best to part ways, so as to not overshadow the important work happening at Teen Vogue,” Condé Nast’s chief people officer, Stan Duncan, wrote in the email.
In addition to the outcry from her subordinates, Teen Vogue advertisers Ulta Beauty and Burt’s Bees suspended campaigns because of McCammond’s hiring, The New York Times added.
Despite the drama over McCammond’s old tweets, staff and others issued no such revolt for the paid propaganda from Saudi Arabia that briefly appeared in “error,” according to The Wrap, on the Teen Vogue front page earlier in March. Nor did their moral outrage mention McCammond’s relationship with an official on the presidential campaign she was covering. (That official later resigned after being accused of berating a Politico reporter about her sex life in a series of threats over the McCammond relationship story).