Jewish staffers at Condé Nast accuse ex-DEI chief of antisemitism: report
The former DEI chief at Condé Nast reportedly was accused of antisemitism by Jewish employees at the publishing giant — who complained that management was allowing its magazines to take a pro-Palestinian stance and that it failed to crack down on journalists who took part in anti-Israel demonstrations.
Yashica Olden, who stepped down as chief diversity and inclusion officer of the Manhattan-based magazine publishing giant in June, was the subject of an official human resources complaint that was submitted by Jewish employees of the company, according to the news site Semafor.
Olden was accused of failing to adequately address allegations made by Jewish staffers that the company was allowing pro-Palestinian sentiment among some of the writers to seep into coverage of the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks last year, it was reported.
Jewish employees of the company whose properties include Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker accused management of failing to take disciplinary action against staffers who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
They demanded that Olden allow them to set up an employee resource group for Jewish staffers — similar to groups set up within the company for other ethnic minorities, Semafor reported.
Olden reportedly told the Jewish staffers that she would support the idea as long as similar groups would be allowed to form in order to accommodate other religions, including Muslims.
When Olden was perceived by some Jewish employees as not taking their concerns seriously enough, several of them filed a complaint to the human resources department accusing her of antisemitism, Semafor reported.
The Post has sought comment from Olden and Condé Nast.
The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 last year, which killed 1,400 Israelis, and its aftermath have become a bitterly divisive issue for the company, particularly as some staffers have become vocal about their sympathies for the Palestinians.
Teen Vogue, the youth version of the fashion magazine, has come under particular scrutiny after it ran a spate of news stories that highlighted Palestinian civilian deaths that resulted from Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.
The publication also gave prominent coverage to anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses as well as pro-Palestinian celebrities who have been vocal about their views.
Teen Vogue’s editorial line upset Condé Nast’s booking department which is in charge of maintaining relationships with celebrities, according to the report. Public relations executives in Hollywood who represent celebrity clients have also voiced their displeasure with the publication’s content, Semafor reported.
The company’s own Content Integrity Group, which conducts fact-checks and monitors standards at all non-New Yorker publications at Condé Nast, flagged several Teen Vogue stories about Gaza because of anti-Israel bias, according to Semafor.
The authors of the stories included words such as “apartheid” and “genocide,” according to the report, prompting the pieces to be held up.
The Israel-Gaza story has caused consternation among employees sympathetic to the Jewish State.
In the days after the Hamas attacks, Condé Nast released a statement that was criticized as vague and wishy-washy because it failed to explicitly condemn the Palestinian terrorist organization.
A week after the attack, Vogue contributing editor-at-large Gabriella Karefa-Johnson quietly wiped her job title from her Instagram account after posting messages denouncing Israel as an “apartheid state” which was carrying out “genocide.”
She also likened the Israeli military to a “terrorist organization.”
Coverage of Israel has also roiled another media giant, Paramount-owned CBS, where management recently reprimanded “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil over an interview he conducted with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book on the conflict.
