Nir Rosen, the reporter who joked that the attack on CBS’ Lara Logan “would have been funny” if it happened to Anderson Cooper, has resigned as a fellow at New York University.
Rosen, who has written about foreign policy for the New Yorker and contributed footage to the Oscar-nominated documentary “No End In Sight,” was a fellow at the NYU School of Law’s Center on Law and Security.
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The center’s executive director, Karen J. Greenberg, said in a statement Wednesday that he had resigned over his comments on Twitter Tuesday.
“Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line with his comments about Lara Logan. I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments,” Greenberg wrote. “He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted. However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted.”
She added: “We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.”
In a series of tweets Tuesday, following CBS’ disclosure that Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted while reporting in Cairo Friday, Rosen wrote, “”Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson [Cooper] … Yes yes its wrong what happened to her. Of course. I don’t support that. But, it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too.”
He added: “Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger … Look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women, which is still wrong, but if it was worse than [that] I’m sorry.”
Rosen later took down the Cooper tweet and posted an extensive apology, saying he would stop tweeting.
As someone who’s devoted his career to defending victims and supporting justice, I’m very ashamed for my insensitive and offensive comments,” he wrote. “I offer my deepest apologies to Ms. Logan, her friends and her family. I never meant to hurt anyone.
Cooper, who was also attacked while covering the protests, tweeted that he was “sickened and saddened by the attack on Lara Logan. She is in all of our thoughts and prayers.”