MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson crashed and burned Wednesday while attempting to plug an NBC News report during the final moments of her morning show. In a spectacular display of poor judgment, the MSNBC Live host attempted to rhyme former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's name with a made-up word, and wound up using what sounded like an anti-Semitic slur in the process: “Kikle.” Mr. Cohen is Jewish.
The gaffe occurred when Jackson attempted to tease a topic for an upcoming installment of NBC Nightly News. “I bet you can guess what we will be talking about,” she announced conspiratorially. “I’ll give you a hint: Kikle Mohen.”
Fellow host Ali Velshi burst into a fit of uncomfortable laughter, and for a merciful moment, it appeared that the worst had passed. Then, Velshi’s co-host Stephanie Ruhle, perhaps oblivious to the suggestive nature of Jackson’s quip, chimed in. “It rhymes with Kikle Mohen,” she grinned. “I really, really appreciated that.”
It would be a stretch to take Jackson’s flub as evidence of some deep-seated ethnic hatred that she’d secretly been harboring. Regardless, her unfortunate choice of words, in conjunction with the fact that Michael Cohen is in fact Jewish, made for a remarkably uncomfortable moment of television.
