Associated Press criticized for headlines saying Gay's resignation result of 'conservative weapon'

The Associated Press drew sharp criticism Wednesday for a headline about the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay that concluded her decision was the result of a "conservative weapon."

The headline on the AP X account reads: "Harvard president's resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism."

The headline on the wire service's homepage reads: "Plagiarism charges downed Harvard’s president. A conservative attack helped to fan the outrage." 

X owner Elon Musk wrote in response to the headlines and articles: "Gay repeatedly violated Harvard’s rules against plagiarism. Source: Harvard."

Gay resigned on Tuesday after another plagiarism complaint was filed earlier this week against the university regarding her scholarly articles. She now faces nearly 50 plagiarism allegations impacting half of her published works, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

The community notes feature on X corrected the headline and article on the platform, stating, "This is not a 'weapon against colleges' because the colleges themselves created the rules against plagiarism and enforce the rules against violators."

British broadcaster Piers Morgan blasted the headline and article, saying Gay resigned because she was exposed as an "anti-Semitic plagiarist." Gay late last month gave congressional testimony in which she failed to unequivocally say that "calling for the genocide of Jews" is against school policy.

Political science professor Nick Giordano said that the AP headline was insulting to academia. 

"The AP headline screaming that plagiarism is the new weapon of the right wing is not only disgusting, it's also insulting to my profession-a profession that I take very seriously," Giordano said Thursday on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast.

Gay's resignation has been attributed to her being a black female and conservatives efforts to curtail – or end – hiring solely on the basis of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies. 

"The fact that they're trying to chalk up the idea that it's okay to plagiarize simply based on the color of your skin is completely ludicrous," Giordano also said. "If that's the way our education systems are going to be based, we don't have an education system anymore."

Other X users criticized the headline in the replies.

"You have fallen mighty hard if you think this is acceptable journalism," one user wrote.