Ebony Magazine Editor Acclaims Black NFL Player's Divorce From White Woman

January 28th, 2016 5:36 PM

Ebony magazine senior editor Jamilah Lemieux ran to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's defense in a Thursday post on Twitter over his apparent choice of clothing, but also took the opportunity to tout how the NFL player "divorced a WW [white woman] when he signed a big contract and got with a Black single mom."

Mediaite's Alex Griswold spotlighted Lemieux's eyebrow-raising statement in a Thursday item by first translating the Tweet, and continued by noting who that "black single mom" was: "Yes, indeed; how dare Wilson marry outside his race? By the way, the 'black single mom' Wilson is dating is Ciara, who has an estimated net work of $15 million. Not exactly a charity case."

Griswold also pointed out the editor's claim to infamy. Back in March 2015, Lemieux blasted Senator Ted Cruz on MSNBC after he disclosed that he listened to country music after the 9/11 attacks in 2001: "Nothing says, let's go kill some Muslims like country music....I mean, really? That's absurd."

Substitute host Ari Melber responded to his guest's remark by underlining that "there's plenty of country music that doesn't have that message." A short time later, Melber issued an apology for the offensive remark: "A guest made a comment about country music. That comment was not appropriate, and we want to be clear: this network does not condone it."

The Mediaite writer later highlighted how the Ebony editor defended her Thursday Twitter post by attacking "right wing bloggers," "black men," and "White men pretending to be offended by what I said." Griswold disclosed that "for the record, the 'right wing blogger' and 'white man' in her mentions is yours truly." He added, "I'm actually Hispanic and Irish, but apparently my mother should leave my father."

This isn't the first time that Lemieux has made hasty judgments about the racial backgrounds of individuals. Ebony magazine actually had to issue an apology, after she insulted Republican National Committee deputy press secretary Raffi Williams (who is the son of Fox News's Juan Williams) as a "white dude" in a March 2014 post on Twitter.