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New York Times columnist Ezra Klein drew a surge of online scorn after social media users circulated details showing he charges between $40,000 and $70,000 for paid speaking engagements.
The eye-watering price tag, listed through a speakers’ bureau, set off a wave of criticism on X, where detractors mocked the fee as excessive for an opinion columnist and podcaster whose work often focuses on inequality, politics and elite power.
“For just between $40,000 and $70,000 you can hear Ezra Klein’s ‘trademark depth of policy knowledge and academic research’ in person,” wrote Sam Haselby in a post that quickly gained traction.
Other comments on X were harsher.
“It’s obviously laughable to pay Ezra Klein $40–70k to hear his vapid, DNC-donor-pleasing, liberal clichés,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote on X.
Another widely shared post from a user known as “scary lawyerguy” framed the fee in household terms, writing that Klein could be hired “for the low, low price of roughly the yearly median income of a family of four.”
The criticism echoed earlier controversies over paid speeches by politicians and public figures, with some users arguing that sums like Klein’s once triggered fierce media scrutiny when attached to former presidents or party leaders.
What went largely unmentioned in the initial outrage, however, is how Klein’s fee compares to others on the journalism speaking circuit — where six-figure payouts are routine for television stars.
According to industry listings and Washington Speakers Bureau data, top-tier broadcast journalists regularly command $100,000 or more per appearance.
By contrast, Klein’s $40,000 to $70,000 fee places him in what industry sources describe as a middle tier — alongside ink-stained wretches that made it big and veteran political commentators rather than television anchors with nightly audiences in the millions.
Still, the comparisons did little to quiet critics, many of whom argued the backlash was not about whether Klein is overpaid relative to his peers, but about the optics of the sum itself.
Klein, founder of the Vox news site and host of the popular “Ezra Klein Show” podcast, is co-author of the bestselling book “Abundance,” which argues that Democrats lost power because their leaders have created too many regulations that stifled development in key areas such as housing and infrastructure.
His podcast and the success of his book has raised Klein’s profile to the point where he was invited by Senate Democrats to address lawmakers at a recent retreat — a move that reportedly raised eyebrows among editors at the Times.
Several commenters zeroed in on the fact that a single 45-minute speech can earn more than what many Americans make in an entire year.
“I think it’s layered, but in general, most people are shocked at the amount of money people can make for a 45-minute speech — including people they like,” journalist Eugene Scott wrote.
“And that’s fair when you consider how many people make less than $70,000 a year.”
Defenders pushed back, arguing that Klein is being singled out for doing what is commonplace across media, academia and politics.
“I am genuinely confused about why people are mad at an opinion columnist and podcaster getting paid to give talks about his opinions and his work,” wrote Jill Filipovic.
“Is the argument that no one should ever be paid a speaking fee…? Or only people you personally dislike?”
Neither Klein nor his representatives immediately responded publicly to the criticism as it spread across social media. The speakers bureau listing his fee range also did not address the backlash.
The Post has sought comment from Klein, the Times and the speakers’ bureau.
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