Florida Sen. Marco Rubio quickly apologized after a Twitter snafu involving the late Rep. John Lewis.
Rubio tweeted a photo of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland in a post remembering Lewis, who died on Friday following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
“Earlier today I tweeted an incorrect photo,” Rubio wrote. “John Lewis was a genuine American hero. I was honored to appear together in Miami 3 years ago at an event captured in video below. My God grant him eternal rest.”
Earlier today I tweeted an incorrect photo
John Lewis was a genuine American hero
I was honored to appear together in Miami 3 years ago at an event captured in video below
My God grant him eternal resthttps://t.co/aEm4MxKxBP pic.twitter.com/0UpWSG3vNQ
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 18, 2020
In his original tweet, Rubio said it “was an honor to know and be blessed with the opportunity to serve in Congress with John Lewis.” Rubio also temporarily used the wrong photo as his Twitter avatar before users on the platform alerted him that he had the wrong black man.
This tweet has been deleted. The senator also made it his profile photo. (That’s Elijah Cummings, not John Lewis.) pic.twitter.com/ygvPCUs6su
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 18, 2020
Rubio’s photo mix-up is not the first time that Cummings and Lewis have been confused for each other. Lewis recalled being mistaken for Cummings and how he considered growing a beard to distance himself physically from Lewis.
“Just this weekend, I went to church in Maryland,” Lewis said last year. “Someone came up to me and said, ‘Hi, Mr. Cummings! I vote for you all the time.’ I just said, ‘Thank you.’ What else could I say? That’s when I decided, I should just grow a beard.”
