LA Times Correspondent Deletes Trump Death Tweet, Apologizes
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) - A Los Angeles Times journalist issued an apology Thursday after tweeting he would "rather see Donald Trump's life end".
Steven Borowiec, a freelance Times correspondent for South and North Korea, was responding to a tweet from Time Magazine about a Donald Trump photo gallery that read, "See Donald Trump's life in photos".
Borowiec replied to Time's tweet with "I would rather see Donald Trump's life end".
He promptly deleted the tweet after it was posted, but several screenshots of the message continued floating around social media.
He later posted an apology and said the tweet was meant "in jest".
Times spokesperson Hillary Manning told CBSLA that Borowiec's tweet "violated our professional standards" and that Borowiec was no longer with the company.
"The Los Angeles Times is committed to fair, evenhanded coverage of the presidential campaign, and expects all journalists representing the paper, including non-staff contributors such as Mr. Borowiec, to adhere to this standard in their articles and social media posts," said Manning. "We regard Mr. Borowiec's comment as inexcusable, and we have ended our relationship with him."
Some Trump supporters were quick to point out any alleged threat against a presidential candidate could catch the attention of Secret Service officials.
Hey, @SecretService. You threatened life of a presidential candidate. BTW, I canceled my 20+yr subscription to @latimes
— Steve W. Kurtz (@SteveWKurtz) November 3, 2016
Nice apology, but you should acknowledge how dangerous it is to have media "joking" about the death of a POTUS candidate.
— Aaron (@Aaron25394187) November 3, 2016