> Really? Do you have to write "r-word" instead of "retard" when you're writing about someone saying something?
By the standards of the New York Times, yes.
They parted with a journalist in the past week for making this error with the n-word:
> “We do not tolerate racist language regardless of intent," Baquet and Managing Editor Joseph Kahn wrote to staffers Friday.
> [...]
> [The Times] also shared a note from McNeil, who explained that he had repeated a racial slur in asking a question about the use of the slur. “I should not have done that. Originally, I thought the context in which I used this ugly word could be defended. I now realize that it cannot. It is deeply offensive and hurtful. The fact that I even thought I could defend it itself showed extraordinarily bad judgement. For that I apologize.”
By the standards of the New York Times, yes.
They parted with a journalist in the past week for making this error with the n-word:
> “We do not tolerate racist language regardless of intent," Baquet and Managing Editor Joseph Kahn wrote to staffers Friday.
> [...]
> [The Times] also shared a note from McNeil, who explained that he had repeated a racial slur in asking a question about the use of the slur. “I should not have done that. Originally, I thought the context in which I used this ugly word could be defended. I now realize that it cannot. It is deeply offensive and hurtful. The fact that I even thought I could defend it itself showed extraordinarily bad judgement. For that I apologize.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/02/05/new-york-tim...
EDIT: formatting