NYT fires editor accused of leaving toxic voicemails at Michigan gun rights group

The New York Times fired Erin Marquis, an editor for the newspaper’s Wirecutter product recommendation service, after accusations she left angry, profane voicemails at a gun-rights group.

“The employee has been terminated from Wirecutter following our investigation related to inappropriate behavior,” a NYT spokesperson told The Washington Post.

“We expect our employees to behave in a way that is consistent with our values and commitment to the highest ethical standards. Repeatedly invoking the New York Times’s name in an unprofessional way that imperils the reputation of Wirecutter, The Times, and all of our journalists is a clear violation of our policies and cannot be tolerated,” the spokesperson continued.

Marquis had been hired in July as lead editor of Wirecutter’s computer/networking section. She was suspended earlier this month for her public outbursts following a school shooting in suburban Detroit that killed three students and injured eight others.

She first tweeted angrily in response to a post from Great Lakes Gun Rights, the Michigan affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights, which opposed calls by Democrats for more restrictive gun laws. She tweeted that she was “literally shaking with rage” and hoped that “there is a God and they meet that God someday.” Marquis also tweeted out the group’s phone number and email address.

The National Association for Gun Rights, which has 4.5 million members nationwide, then posted audio to its YouTube channel of incendiary voicemails left at the Michigan chapter’s phone number by a woman who identified as “a journalist at The New York Times.”

In one voicemail, the caller says, “I'm just calling to wonder. I have two questions. How do you sleep at night? And aren't you just, like, a little bit worried that there might be a Hell, and when you meet God, he will send you there?”

“You f---ing ghouls, I hope that there is a God in heaven, so he judges you when you die,” the woman said in a second audio clip.

The woman in the voicemails was never confirmed to be Marquis, but she deleted her Twitter account after the national gun rights group identified her as the caller in a press release.