Asbury Park Press editor apologizes for offensive photo caption posted on website

The Asbury Park Press is under fire for posting a photo on its website over the weekend with a caption that some say was misogynistic and anti-Semitic.

News 12 Staff

Mar 22, 2021, 8:24 PM

Updated 1,128 days ago

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The Asbury Park Press is under fire for posting a photo on its website over the weekend with a caption that some say was misogynistic and anti-Semitic.
The photo depicted a woman administering a COVID-19 vaccine shot at the Chemed Health Center in Lakewood. The photo accompanied an article about how the health center was helping to vaccinate people in underserved communities.
The caption referred to the woman pictured as a “[expletive] hot nurse,” and also referred to her by an anti-Semitic slur.
Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday that he was shocked by the incident.
“I frankly didn’t believe it. I read it with my own eyes. It’s unfathomable that someone wrote that, even privately,” the governor said.
Murphy said that someone must “pay a price for that.”
The New Jersey Globe first reported the on the photo caption Sunday night.
Asbury Park Press Executive Editor Paul D'Ambrosio issued an apology that read in part, “I apologize deeply to women, the Lakewood Jewish community, the Asian American community and all our readers. The words in the caption were totally unacceptable and in no way reflect the principles and practices of the staff of the Press and Gannett. The Press and Gannett have a long history of fighting for inclusiveness, diversity and women’s rights. We took immediate and significant action once we became aware of the issue, and we changed our online procedures to ensure such an event never happens again.”
But Murphy said that even the apology “missed the point.”
Lakewood Township attorney Michael Inzelbuch agrees. He is a prominent voice of the Lakewood Orthodox community.
“What’s going to come? Probably nothing, probably nothing,” Izelbuch says.
The photo and story were both removed Sunday night. The Asbury Park Press refused to say who was responsible.
D'Ambrosio refused to comment further and said that it was a personnel matter.


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