A New York Times staffer tweeted “Fuck you Jeb Bush” and then quickly deleted it on Wednesday after the Republican presidential contender discussed his plan to tackle poverty.
Philip Richardson, a news assistant at the Times, tweeted “Fuck you Jeb Bush for telling poor people they need stronger families to not be poor. Poverty weakens families” after Bush spoke at a New Hampshire town hall Wednesday night.
An editor at the conservative news site The Blaze captured the tweet before it was deleted:
And New York Times writer @philipbrich has now deleted this tweet about @JebBush pic.twitter.com/fLKUDiZ18E
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 15, 2015
Richardson’s personal Twitter bio identified him as “Writer/Blogger/Producer. Works @NYTimes. Grad student @CUNYJSchool.”
Before his remark about Bush, Richardson had tweeted about the event: “Who is this beautiful and brilliant black boy grilling #jebBush at New Hampshire Town Hall Meeting?? #blacklivesmatter @cspan.”
Tim Miller, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, immediately took to Twitter to highlight the remark.
NY Times reporter drops an FU Jeb…. https://t.co/TifC6hl2aQ
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) October 15, 2015
A Times spokesperson told Politico the tweet was “completely inappropriate” and said Richardson does clerical for the photo desk and does not work on the paper of record’s politics coverage.
“He is not a reporter or editor and is not involved in political coverage. Nevertheless, tweets like this are inappropriate for any Times newsroom staffer, and managers will take the necessary steps to deal with the situation,” the spokesperson said.
