A flood of criticism has been directed at the New York Times overnight and into Monday following its dual endorsement of Democratic presidential candiates Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren after a week of self-promoted hype over its process.

The Times editorial board—which publicized its endorsement with transcripts of interviews and selected video clips of candidates throughout last week—announced its decision Sunday night at the conclusion of an hour-long show aired on the FX channel.

But from the TV reality show-esque manner in which the board made its announcement, to framing the two senators as “the radical and the realist models” worthy of consideration, to whitewashing U.S. empire, the editorial board came under fire from progressives.

The timing—Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day— caught the eye of author and 350.org found Bill McKibben.

“If I were going to go all weak-kneed like the New York Times,” McKibben wrote on Twitter, “I’m not sure I would have picked the day devoted to our most clear-eyed moral leader to do it.”

It is “always worth remembering,” he added, “that the NYT editorial board slammed MLK when he came out against the Vietnam War.”

Progressive journalist Sarah Lazare, the web editor for In These Times, suggested the endorsement itself—which she described as “a love letter to capitalism and war”—reveals more about the newspaper than the two candidates it chose to back.

“The language of the NYT endorsement is so violent, just casually endorsing brutal wars and countless human deaths in the borderlands and more deaths at the hands of a ruthless healthcare industry—without even giving these things mention, all while claiming the mantle of civility,” Lazare added in a separate tweet.

Other critics focused on the discrepancy between the urgent action scientists say is needed to address the climate crisis and the backing of Klobuchar, who supports the continued use of fracked gas. Biologist and climate activist Dr. Sandra Steingraber said the endorsement was an act of “climate denial.”

McKibben, in a Monday tweet, added that “Because we have waited (thanks to the fossil fuel industry) so long to get started, physics leaves us no choice but to move very swiftly. Say, at the speed envisioned by people like Warren or Sen. Bernie Sanders.”