New York Times reporter Donald McNeil DISPUTES claims of racism on his Peru trip in an email to friends and says the students may have had 'false memories' of his remarks
A veteran New York Times reporter who resigned following reports that he used racial slurs while leading a 2019 student trip to Peru has claimed that some of the students had 'false memories' of the time.
Donald McNeil, 65, the paper's science correspondent, was alleged by students to have used the 'n-word' during a discussion.
On Sunday the paper's media correspondent, Ben Smith, published a detailed account of the furor surrounding McNeil's February 5 resignation, which followed a January 28 report into the accusations in The Daily Beast.
McNeil, who has said he will not comment publicly until after he leaves the paper on March 1, emailed friends following Smith's report.
Donald McNeil, 65, announced on February 5 that he was resigning from The New York Times
Sophie Shepherd, a student on the July 2019 trip to Peru led by McNeil, recalled his remarks
'I'm amazed at what's happening,' he wrote in the email, obtained by The Daily Beast.
'I feel like I'm facing students 'recovered memories' from two years ago.
'And other papers are eating it up. I said 'racism is over?' Huh?
'I said 'ghetto'? I don't think I've said 'ghetto' except 1. about Warsaw or 2. ironically, with air quotes, since Elvis released that ridiculous song in 1969.
'A teenager 'corrected' me and was upset that I failed to apologize to her/him? I don't even know how to respond to that. Somehow I think I'd remember it if it had happened.'
McNeil, who joined The New York Times in 1979, has apologized to colleagues for his words
The trip that McNeil was in charge of was a 14 day, 13 night trip to the Andes to teach the students about public health. It was part of the Times Journeys program
Smith spoke to Sophie Shepherd, who was a 17-year-old student on the $5,000-per-person 2019 trip. She recounted several uncomfortable conversations that she she'd had with McNeil.
Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet wanted to fire McNeil when he learned of the teenagers' complaints in 2019 but McNeil's union stopped it
She told Smith that she talked with McNeil about her favorite class at high-end high school Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts - a history of American education that covered racial discrimination.
Shepherd claimed that McNeil replied: 'It's frustrating, because black Americans keep blaming the system, but racism is over, there's nothing against them anymore - they can get out of the ghetto if they want to.'
When she protested, he said, according to her recollection: 'This is the thing with these liberal institutions like Andover - they teach you the world should be like this but that's not how reality is.'
Shepherd also said that she overheard McNeil using the 'n-word'.
McNeil, in an email to Times colleagues announcing his departure, apologized for saying the 'n-word,' and attempted to explain the context.
He said that the word came up during a conversation about one student's classmate, who'd been suspended for a video in which she used the racial slur.
'To understand what was in the video, I asked if she had called someone else the slur or whether she was rapping or quoting a book title,' McNeil wrote.
McNeil will leave the paper on March 1 amid a firestorm about his remarks and his resignation
'In asking the question, I used the slur itself. I should not have done that.
'Originally, I thought the context in which I used this ugly word could be defended.'
McNeil's departure sparked off a firestorm at the paper.
The editor, Dean Baquet, wanted to fire McNeil as soon as the complaint was raised, at the time, he said.
The union stepped in, and McNeil instead received a formal reprimand.
More than 150 New York Times staffers then wrote a letter in February after the issue resurfaced that said they were 'deeply disturbed' by the paper's lack of action and demanded a full investigation.
McNeil subsequently retired.
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