The New Yorker magazine fact-checker who falsely accused an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employee of being a Nazi over an innocuous tattoo has resigned and apologized on social media.
Talia Lavin issued an apology on Sunday and revealed that she’s no longer part of the outlet.
“To Justin Gaertner, I apologize, sincerely: all I saw in you was the photo ICE tweeted, and not the human being depicted inside it. It was uncharitable, and the hasty deletion doesn’t change that. I’m sorry and I have voluntarily resigned after three years at the New Yorker,” she tweeted.
To Justin Gaertner, I apologize, sincerely: all I saw in you was the photo ICE tweeted, and not the human being depicted inside it. It was uncharitable, and the hasty deletion doesn't change that. I'm sorry and I have voluntarily resigned after three years at the New Yorker.
— Talia B Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) June 23, 2018
Her apology stems from the backlash after she accused Gaertner, a combat-wounded Marine veteran and ICE forensic analyst, of being a Nazi sympathizer over a tattoo she perceived as being the “Iron Cross” used by Nazi Germany.
ICE strongly pushed back against the unfounded allegations, going as far as to demand the apology from Lavin for “baselessly slandering an American hero” and pointing it out that the tattoo on the veteran’s left elbow has nothing to do with Nazi Germany at all.
In fact, said ICE last week, it is “the ‘Titan 2,” the symbol for his platoon while he fought in Afghanistan. “The writing on his right arm is the Spartan Creed, which is about protecting family and children.”