Emmett Rensin, the deputy editor of Vox’s first person section, has been suspended by the explainer site after tweeting that people should “start a riot” if their towns are visited by presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/emmettrensin/status/738583628855156742
The tweet clashed with a policy at Vox that prevents staffers from “encouraging dangerous, illegal activity,” according to a statement from Vox founder Ezra Klein:
We at Vox do not take institutional positions on most questions, and we encourage our writers to debate and disagree. But direct encouragement of riots crosses a line between expressing a contrary opinion and directly encouraging dangerous, illegal activity. We welcome a variety of viewpoints, but we do not condone writing that could put others in danger.
Vox Media declined to comment on the terms of Rensin’s suspension.
Correction: A previous version of this story said that Rensin had been suspended because of a policy preventing staffers from publicly taking positions. In fact, he was suspended because Vox prohibits its writers from encouraging “dangerous, illegal activity.”