‘Complete BS’: Washington Post Called Out For ‘Smearing’ Saagar Enjeti in Elon Musk Article

Zachary LeemanApr 27th, 2022, 4:17 pm
 

Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball Breaking Points Podcast Twitter

One of the central figures in a Washington Post story on Elon Musk “amplifying” an article about a Twitter employee has accused the paper of trying to smear him.

Washington Post writer Elizabeth Dwoskin on Wednesday wrote that Musk’s Twitter use is a “major concern” for employees, especially after one recent tweet appeared to criticize Vijaya Gadde — the chief legal counsel to Twitter — who has made headlines recently over reports this week that she broke down in tears when discussing Musk’s purchase of the social media platform with other staffers.

Saagar Enjeti, cohost of the Breaking Points podcast with Krystal Ball, responded to Politico’s story about Gadde crying over the Musk purchase. Musk replied to the tweet that night, and Dwoskin says that response inspired a “barrage of attacks,” including racist ones, directed against Gadde.

“Vijaya Gadde, the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan’s podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, is very upset about the @elonmusk takeover,” Enjeti tweeted. According to Enjeti, Dwoskin reached out to his producer at 2 AM for comment on the story, approximately seven hours after Musk’s reply to his tweet. Her tweet promoting the story was put out only about an hour later after the email asking for comment. At approximately 11 AM, Enjeti responded to the story, which had been up since around 3 AM.

Musk responded to Enjeti’s Tuesday post replying to the story on Gadde by saying in his own tweet that “suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate.” The tweets refer to the New York Post being suspended from their account last year after refusing to delete a tweet promoting their article on damaging materials found on Hunter Biden’s laptop. At the time, Twitter said the tweet violated their policies on hacked materials. Numerous conservatives have used the suspension, however, to further claims that the social media platform has been politically biased.

The opinion from Musk could be a “personal attack” on a Twitter employee and violate his deal, the Post claims, describing users deploying racist language and insults at Gadde following the Musk message.

Enjeti said the Post pushed “complete BS” by saying he was not immediately available for comment and also shared a screenshot of the questions sent by Dwoskin to Enjeti’s producer, which included, “What does he hope to accomplish by calling out Gadde and getting Elon involved?”

Musk responded himself with his “megaphone” to a tweet on The Washington Post’s article, accusing the Jeff Bezos-owned paper of targeting him “relentlessly.”

“Their insults could be higher quality, but some are not bad. I gave them 3 stars on Yelp,” he wrote.

As Enjeti has pointed out multiple times, Gadde has been front and center in public promoting the company in the past, even appearing on the podcast of Joe Rogan, a vocal supporter of Musk and the Tesla CEO’s purchase of Twitter. The Washington Post story also includes a tweet from Enjeti describing Gadde as a “public figure.”

“This is a great example of how the media smears you. I make a substantive point, randos say something. Now myself and @elonmusk and somehow racist/responsible for them!” Enjeti tweeted, adding that the Post was in favor of censorship.

Numerous Twitter users, mostly conservative, similarly questioned the Post’s tactics in their story, with many pointing to Dwoskin’s questions and the timing of contacting Enjeti as suspicious.

“My mind is legitimately boggled that you emailed Saagar two shameful, leading questions at 2 am and tweeted this at 3 am,” Daily Caller’s Geoffrey Ingersoll tweeted in response to Dwoskin.

“The Washington Post is defending a Twitter employee for their role in blocking a newspaper for publishing a true story. I mean, COME ON,” Real Clear Investigation’s Mark Hemingway added.

While the Post used their report to point out social media attacks, the paper itself was ironically accused of recently inspiring online attacks on someone, with the Taylor Lorenz report on the Libs of TikTok social media account. The account was accused of “fueling the right’s outrage machine” by reposting videos of and poking fun at liberals often promoting extreme ideas. The piece revealed the previously anonymous account holder’s name, Chaya Raichik, and was heavily criticized for originally including a link to her real estate license, which included an address.

The Post said they removed the link after publication, deeming it unnecessary, but stood by Lorenz’s work.

UPDATE: This was was updated to include an additional tweet from Elon Musk.

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.