Teen Vogue Drops New Editor As Advertisers Halt Campaigns Over Her Racist Tweets

Condé Nast has announced that Alexi McCammond, who was set to begin as editor-in-chief at Teen Vogue on March 24, will not be taking the position following a controversy regarding anti-Asian tweets she published a decade ago.

The hire sparked an internal revolt by magazine staffers and the suspension of advertising campaigns by two major advertisers, Ulta Beauty ULTA and Burt’s Bees, a Clorox CLX brand.

What Happened: McCammond is a 27-year-old African American journalist who gained attention for her political reporting at Axios and on-air commentary for MSNBC.

In 2019, racially offensive tweets that she made during her college years surfaced. McCammond apologized at the time the tweets were discovered and apologized again when Teen Vogue staffers raised the issue to company executives after the announcement of her hiring earlier this month.

The New York Times obtained an internal email from Stan Duncan, the chief people officer at Condé Nast, who told the company, “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.”

Duncan’s email included a statement from McCammond, who said her “past tweets have overshadowed the work I’ve done to highlight the people and issues that I care about.”

What Else Happened: The Times noted that while Condé Nast leadership, including Anna Wintour, the chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue, tried to mitigate the growing dissent against McCammond with multiple meetings.

Yet hitherto unknown tweets by McCammond involving homophobic language and a photograph of her dressed like an American Indian woman at a 2011 costume party also emerged.  The company was reportedly aware of the anti-Asian tweets, but knew nothing of the other tweets and the photograph.

Complicating matters was the decision by advertisers Ulta Beauty and Burt’s Bees to suspend Teen Vogue advertising campaigns as result of the growing furor around McCammond.

The Times cited anonymous sources who said Ulta Beauty campaign was a seven-digit figure; it is not certain how much Burt’s Bees campaign was worth, nor is it certain if other advertisers threatened to halt their advertising.

Photo of Alexi McCammond via her Instagram page.