Shashi Tharoor shreds The Washington Post over son Ishaan's layoff, calls sacking 'bizarre'

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and his son Ishaan Tharoor.

Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday slammed the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post’s decision to lay off his son, Ishaan Tharoor, as part of a global round of over 300 journalists.

Calling the sacking 'bizarre', Tharoor said in a now-deleted post on X, ""The bizarre thing about this so-called 'business decision' by The Washington Post is that Ishaan Tharoor’s column flourished on the Internet, where he had 500,000 (half a million plus!) individual subscribers for his WorldView newsletter. I’ve met Foreign Ministers, diplomats and scholars around the world who read him daily."

He added, "One could have forgiven The Post for trying to monetise that kind of reach, but to abolish it instead seems a perverse act of self-immolation".

However, he deleted the post later and reshared a post reading, "Nobody better -- or even equal to -- Ishaan in his domain of international affairs synthesis and analysis".

Ishaan Tharoor, the Post's senior international affairs columnist, also shared what looked like a picture of the newsroom, with a poster reading "Democracy Dies in Darkness." He captioned the post "A bad day."

In another post, Ishaan Tharoor, who launched the widely read WorldView column in 2017, confirmed he was laid off, saying he was "heartbroken" by the publication's move.

I have been laid off today from the @washingtonpost, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally — editors and correspondents…

— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 4, 2026

"I have been laid off today from The Washington Post, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I'm heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally - editors and correspondents who have been my friends and collaborators for almost 12 years. It's been an honour to work with them," he wrote.

The Washington Post mass layoff

In one of the most sweeping newsroom purges in recent American media history, The Washington Post has laid off more than 300 journalists and staff, over a third of its editorial workforce, triggering an outpouring of anguish from correspondents reporting from war zones, global capitals, and some of the world's most sensitive datelines.

Sources indicate the cuts have disproportionately hit the Post's foreign bureaus, local reporting teams, sports desk, and significant parts of the business division. Entire international reporting structures appear to have been dismantled in a move many current and former staff describe as a "dark day," not just for the newspaper, but for global journalism.

Ukraine correspondent Lizzie Johnson was also laid off by the publication. She posted on X: "I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated."

The Post's New Delhi Bureau Chief Pranshu Verma wrote, "Heartbroken to share I've been laid off from The Washington Post. Gutted for so many of my talented friends who are also gone. It was a privilege to work here the past four years."