ABC was the only network Monday morning to report on NBC's Tom Brokaw’s comments that offended both the right and left on Meet the Press Sunday. During a discussion on the border wall, Brokaw argued Hispanics needed to do a better job assimilating, and said Republicans didn’t want interracial marriages. That second part didn’t faze ABC, but the first part made anchor Cecilia Vega very upset.
The ABC team didn’t even pretend that they cared Brokaw insinuated Republicans were racists, when he shared this totally-not-made-up story on NBC Sunday:
Also, I hear when I push people [Republicans] a little harder, ‘I don't know whether I want brown grandbabies.' I mean, that's also a part of it. It’s the intermarriage that’s going on and the cultures that are conflicting with each other.
Instead, anchor Robin Roberts touted the former NBC anchor was being “criticized for comments he made about Hispanics,” alone. Reporter Lindsey Davis gushed:
Criticism was harsh and swift after the former Nightly News anchor implied that Latinos needed to do a better job of assimilating. Critics pounced, calling his comments not only racially insensitive, but also, inaccurate. Then he was taken to task for what was deemed an unapologetic apology.
Davis’s report only played the clip of Brokaw’s negative comments about Republicans. Instead of addressing that part, ABC focused entirely on the part about Hispanics. Touting Democrats calling the remarks “xenophobic” and “utterly ignorant,” anchor Cecilia Vega did her part in adding to the left’s blowback, saying it was “antiquated” to expect immigrants to learn English:
You guys know I'm already hot and bothered about this one. First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with speaking Spanish. Speaking another language. That is an asset in this country. It's an antiquated view of our country to think otherwise.
He's factually wrong. 90% of young Latinos, nearly 90%, born in this country, speak Spanish anecdotally. Gio is right here. My husband is right here. We all grew up speaking Spanish at home but you go to school in this country and you speak English. To think otherwise is just so wrong. I gotta say, I'm so disappointed in a veteran like Tom Brokaw. a respected journalist in this country, would go there on TV.
“This is just wrong and it's a really antiquated way of looking at our country,” she repeated, as co-anchor Robin Roberts patted her on the back sympathetically.
