Less than a month after Melissa Harris-Perry's tear-drenched apology for a panel discussion on her MSNBC program which mocked Mitt Romney's adopted black grandson, the cable network again had to apologize on Wednesday, this time for an online post (now deleted) that unjustly accused conservatives of being against interracial marriage and reproduction. An anonymous writer on MSNBC's official Twitter account wrote: "Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family."
Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin led the charge against the inflammatory Tweet, encouraging her followers to post photos of their multiracial families, using the hashtag #MyRightWingBiracialFamily. It didn't take long for the pictures to come in:
@michellemalkin My conservative "biracial" family! @msnbc Stop spreading HATRED & LIES! #MyRightWingBiracialFamily pic.twitter.com/TvcyYY3Roq
— Rico (@VoiceOfRico) January 30, 2014
@michellemalkin #MyRightWingBiracialFamily pic.twitter.com/GW8KbanPHn
— Jason Pinto (@JsonPinto19) January 30, 2014
@Sgt_Bravo @TwittaChicca Here is #MyRightwingBiracialFamily @msnbc are a bunch of liberal hack idiots. pic.twitter.com/Op13k8Ik2O
— John W. Wilson (@phjwi2) January 30, 2014
The number of responses must have rattled MSNBC, as the original Tweet (screen cap below, via Twitchy) was soon deleted:
The MSNBC Twitter account then posted not one but two apologies:
Earlier, this account tweeted an offensive line about the new Cheerios ad. We deeply regret it. It does not reflect the position of msnbc.
— msnbc (@msnbc) January 30, 2014
We are deleting the earlier offensive tweet. It does not reflect msnbc's position and we apologize.
— msnbc (@msnbc) January 30, 2014
This latest MSNBC controversy struck a particular chord with me, as I am biracial myself. It was my immigrant father, who came to the United States from the Philippines five years before I was born, who helped form my sense of patriotism and my conservatism. My Caucusian mother of Polish/German/mixed British heritage deserves much of the credit for my Catholic faith and for my pro-life activism. The left's overuse of the race card regularly infuriates me, as too many of them cannot fathom that any "diverse" person could be a conservative. I hope that MSNBC's apology was sincere, but I can't say I will be surprised if they get caught up in another racial gaffe in the future.
