Longtime Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass refused to apologize to liberal colleagues who accused him of writing an “anti-Semitic” piece about billionaire George Soros, saying the “American tradition” of free speech has been “swept away” by cancel culture.
“The essential point? The odious, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire George Soros is a puppet master controlling America’s big cities does not deserve a mainstream voice, especially at a time when hate crimes are rising,” the Chicago Tribune Guild Executive Board wrote.
Tribune editor-in-chief Colin McMahon even announced plans to change the paper’s format as a result, moving opinion columns further away from news.
“And let’s be clear: This column from the Tribune’s lead columnist does a disservice to our entire institution, not just the editorial board, for which he nominally works,” the guild added, demanding an apology for “indefensible invocation of the Soros tropes.” But Kass doesn’t plan on obliging.
Kass explained his side of the story in a harshly worded reaction that was published on Wednesday headlined, “What happened to an America where you could freely speak your mind?” In the piece, Kass refused to apologize and said he is a victim of cancel culture.
“The angry left-handed broom of America’s cultural revolution uses fear to sweep through our civic, corporate and personal life. It brings with it attempted intimidation, shame and the usual demands for ceremonies of public groveling,” Kass wrote. “It is happening in newsrooms in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. And now it’s coming for me, in an attempt to shame me into silence.”
Kass then explained that he penned his column last week on the “growing sense of lawlessness in America’s urban areas” that obviously didn’t go over well with liberal colleagues or the paper’s union.
Read the rest at: SorosGuilty
