Two days after Rep. David Ortiz used sexist language to criticize a Colorado Politics female reporter for a story he didn’t like, the tweet itself has been taken down and an apology issued by the speaker-designee of the House and the chamber’s Democratic majority leader.

Ortiz, D-Centennial, also reached out to apologize to the reporter, Hannah Metzger, but afterwards tweeted and subsequently deleted a message indicating the original comment was a reference to a 2004 movie.

Ortiz’s Dec. 27 tweet complained about what he described as desperation by the print media manifested in the pursuit of “drama and clickbait stories,” instead of “doing actual journalism.”

“Report facts and the news. Don’t try to gossip and mean girl your way to clicks and ratings,” the tweet continued.

He based his assessment, he said, on the headlines of stories about the legislature in the last few weeks. When a Twitter user asked Ortiz to provide an example, he posted a link to the Colorado Politics story published on Dec. 24, which Metzger wrote. 

Ortiz refused to take down the tweet and doubled down on it the following day. 

“Speculation and gossip is not what I consider excellent reporting. Could do an actual report on housing crisis and different means that legislators are using to try and solve those problems from Republicans to moderate democrats to progressive,” Ortiz said.

In response, Colorado Politics Deputy Managing Editor Pat Poblete told him: “Disagree away, that’s your right. But to label a young woman’s work as an effort to ‘gossip and mean girl’ is sexist, full stop. And the fact that you’ve fired off three responses without acknowledging that is telling.”

A Colorado Politics inquiry to House Democratic leadership on Ortiz’s tweet yielded no response on Wednesday, as a spokesman indicated Speaker Julie McCluskie was “still offline from the holidays” and other members of the caucus “are all away and out of the office for the holidays.” 

House Democrats in the past have equated silence to complicity in cases of discrimination.

The response came Thursday, after a further inquiry from Colorado Politics.

In a statement, McCluskie, D-Dillon and House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Denver, disavowed Ortiz’s comments, which they said “reflect personal opinions and not the position of the caucus.”

“We have urged him to apologize directly to Hannah for his comments. We deeply value Hannah’s work as a Capitol reporter, and we are sorry for the impact those comments had on her,” the statement said.

“They are not acceptable, and we’ve shared this directly with Hannah.”

House Democrats in the 2023 session will be almost entirely women-led, with women holding seven of the nine leadership positions. The 46-member caucus will be made up of 34 women and 12 men. Women will also chair nine of the 11 House committees in 2023.

The Colorado General Assembly in 2023 will be for the first time a majority of women, with 51 and 49 men. 

The statement continued: “The Democratic majority has fought tirelessly for women, children and families. We have passed countless laws to put our values into practice by protecting women in the workplace, closing the pay gap, boosting economic assistance for families, increasing health care access for pregnant women, and addressing maternal health disparities. With these values as our guide, the first women-majority in the legislature and the first all-women leadership team will continue our efforts to boost opportunities for women and families.”