Donald McNeil Jr. has served as the New York Times’ go-to reporter on the coronavirus pandemic. However, the veteran journalist is under scrutiny from the Times top brass over accusations that McNeil made wildly offensive and racist comments while leading a student trip.
The Daily Beast reports that in 2019 McNeil accompanied a student group to Peru, which focused on community-based health care in the region.
After the trip was over, the Times reporter repeatedly made racist and sexist remarks throughout the excursion, including, according to two complaints, using the “n-word.”
Following the incident, plenty of the participants wrote about the incident giving details of what took place with McNeil.
“I expect immediate action on the actions taken by Donald. I am deeply disappointed about the New York Times because of the comments he made during our trip. I think firing him would even be appropriate,” one participant wrote.
“Not only did Donald say various racist comments on numerous occasions, but he was also disrespectful to many students during mealtimes and in other settings,” another wrote in their review.
“I would change the journalist. He was a racist,” a third person wrote. “He used the ‘N’ word, said horrible things about black teenagers, and said white supremacy doesn’t exist.”
Times executive editor Dean Baquet addressed the 2019 controversy in an email. “I authorized an investigation and concluded his remarks were offensive and that he showed extremely poor judgment, but it did not appear to me that his intentions were hateful or malicious,” Baquet wrote.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
