CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins ‘regrets’ tweeting anti-gay slurs in college

'It was immature but it doesn't represent the way I feel at all'

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins has apologised for offensive tweets she said she posted in college that referenced anti-gay slurs.

The 26-year-old journalist said she regretted posting the messages nearly seven years ago, in which she called one of her friends a “fag” and told another she wasn’t sure she wanted to “room with a lesbian”.

“When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends,“ she tweeted Sunday night.” It was immature but it doesn’t represent the way I feel at all. I regret it and apologise.”

The reporter was the latest high-profile persona to have their bad tweets resurface in an apparent effort to ignite a campaign against her employment.

The messages were screenshot and shared by Log House Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ group that describes itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies.”

In its tweet exposing the old messages, Log House Republicans tagged Ms Collins’ employer, as well as CNN’s Washington bureau chief, the vice president of communications and digital partnerships and the political director of the news outlet.

Matt Dornic, CNN’s vice president of digital partnerships who was tagged in the tweet, responded: “I’m a proud gay man. And I am a proud friend of @kaitlancollins. Tho I’m disappointed that she ever used the word (even as an immature college kid), I can say with certainty it doesn’t reflect her feelings toward the LGBTQ community”.

He added, “She’s apologised and I accept that.”

Other media personalities have seen their offensive posts reemerge in recent months, including MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who was forced to apologise for seemingly homophobic blog posts, as well as James Gunn, who was fired by Disney after old tweets resurfaced in which the director joked about pedophilia.

Ms Collins appeared to become the latest target in the trend after a recent spat with Donald Trump, in which she pressed the president to discuss his embattled Supreme Court nomination during a press conference announcing the new trilateral trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada.

Earlier this year, Ms Collins was also reportedly brought into a meeting with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, in which she was reprimanded for asking questions that were supposedly out of line. The reporter was ultimately barred from an event at the White House later that day.

At the time, the CNN correspondent was representing a White House pool of reporters and asking general questions about the news of the day, focusing on topics that included the federal investigation into Russia’s impact in the 2016 election.

Prior to CNN, Ms Collins’ covered the White House for Tucker Carlson’s right-wing website, The Daily Caller.

The Independent has reached out to CNN for comment.