Kaitlan Collins' Sketchy Social Media Behavior Has Landed Her In Hot Water More Than Once

There are plenty of people who can't stand CNN's Kaitlan Collins, and her sketchy social media behavior hasn't exactly helped to alter critics' harsh opinions of her. Collins found herself in a tough spot when she took to X, formerly known as Twitter, in February 2025 to share that Luigi Mangione, who stands accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had his legal team launch a website in his stead. The veteran reporter was simply reporting this development, and she included the link. The website, however, happened to also include a link to a fundraiser to cover Mangione's legal costs (the fund has already accumulated over $1 million). 

Collins was sharply criticized, with users accusing her of knowingly sharing the fundraiser. But the CNN stalwart only posted the link to the website, not the fundraiser itself. Still, the backlash continued accumulating. As contributing editor for The Spectator, Stephen L. Miller, snarked on X," Real bottom of the barrel stuff. Even for @kaitlancollins." Fox News contributor Joe Concha also weighed in, writing, "We can now also dispense with the notion that Kaitlan Collins is a serious journalist speaking truth to power (only when an R is in office)," while also noting that Collins had deleted the post amid the backlash. 

"No apology from Kaitlan yet. And it ain't coming," Concha added. Amid the growing social media tempest, the journalist took to X to defend herself, writing that the accusations of her sharing a fundraiser for Mangione were utterly baseless. "I posted that his attorneys created a website, which is newsworthy and other outlets have also reported on. In no way did I share a fundraising link for him," she clarified. Conservative activist Robby Starbuck questioned why Collins deleted her original post if it was as innocent as she claimed.

The fundraising link scandal wasn't the first time that Kaitlan Collins found herself having to publicly defend one of her social media posts. In 2018, critics dug up some old X posts from the prolific journalist that hadn't exactly aged well. One of them read, "Idk [I don't know] if I wanna room with a lesbian." In another she was responding to another user's post and used the homophobic slur "f*g."

It wasn't clear what the context was either, since Collins was responding to someone else's posts with these tweets. Either way, it was not a good look for her, and she swiftly addressed the conundrum in another statement shared on X. "When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends," she wrote. "It was immature but it doesn't represent the way I feel at all. I regret it and apologize."

The internet, however, is an unforgiving place and has a very long memory. The resurfacing of the CNN anchor's seemingly homophobic tweets didn't do her any favors, with some questioning whether she should even be allowed to keep her job. "Hypocrite of the year award goes to -> @kaitlancollins," one user quipped.

Kaitlan Collins and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt have engaged in some pretty heated exchanges, but it's worth noting that the Trump staffer isn't the first press secretary who's got into a scuffle with Collins. The veteran journalist also got into it with Kayleigh McEnany in 2020. The then-press secretary, whose briefings were sometimes few and far between, refused to grant Collins a question, telling her simply, "I don't call on activists," (via YouTube). The CNN star clapped back, "I am not an activist and you haven't taken questions since October 1 and you just took about five, Kayleigh. That's not doing your job, your taxpayer-funded job." McEnany continued making her way out of the press briefing room as Collins spoke.

Sadly, this interaction was but a preview of the petty interactions that would follow between Leavitt and Collins during Donald Trump's second term. After McEnany refused to take her question, the reporter voiced her frustrations online, something many might argue was not the most professional thing to do. She criticized the press secretary for only taking five questions before fleeing the podium and for calling her an activist. 

"It's understandable why someone who hasn't done their job — taking questions from reporters — in weeks would confuse someone else doing theirs with activism," Collins sniped on X. "This tweet literally proves you're an activist," one critic responded. Others applauded Collins for calling her out. "Thank you, Kaitlin [sic]. You are whip smart and we appreciate you so much. Keep up the good work!" one such user penned.