Readers of the Santa Barbara News-Press were shocked after they saw an anti-gay slur on one Christmas article. Paul Gonzalez, a reporter for the Santa Barbara newspaper, wrote an article about the last Christmas shoppers.
The regular byline for those articles is the writer’s name and job title, but this specific byline said, “Paul Gayzalez, NEWS-PRESS FAGGOAT,” instead. Readers noticed the slur and posted images on social media, and some called for the responsible individual to get fired.
On Wednesday, the newspaper addressed the issue in a statement, saying, “In Monday’s News-Press, one of our employees changed another employee’s byline to reflect an offensive slur. The News-Press has taken immediate and swift action against this employee; we do not tolerate any form of harassment in the workplace. We apologize to our readers.”
“This is beyond inappropriate! How does this get past the editor? And it’s Christmas! Beyond disgusted right now,” one user commented. LGBTQ group Pacific Pride Foundation posted an online petition to blast the “Outright Homophobia” of this act.
Gonzalez said in an email that he received a personal apology from the responsible individual, and accepted it. He also commented that this person no longer works at the paper, but never revealed the name of the employee that changed the byline.
This isn’t the first controversy for this newspaper in recent years. In January 2015, the paper published a story about undocumented immigrants applying for a driver’s license under the headline, “Illegals line up for Driver’s License.”
In 2016, News-Press was the first newspaper in California to endorse Donald Trump during the general election, despite only 32 percent of county votes. The newspaper’s usage of the word “illegal” as a noun, makes Mexicans, Latinos, and indigenous people very upset.
They never ceased to use the offensive word, and quickly became the focus of praise among white nationalists, and hate groups who say the paper is using its “right to free speech.”
This article was inspired by TeleSur // Right-Wing California Newspaper Replaces Latino Reporter’s By-line With Anti-Gay Slurs