Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief John Podesta approved of a discussion about a rapper’s “sexualized image,” telling a donor it was relevant to “gender and racial and booty equity.”
The exchange began with an Aug. 2, 2014, message from Herbert Sandler, a former banker and founding member of the Center for American Progress, to Neera Tanden, the group’s president, about a blog post published by ThinkProgress, a website run by the organization.
The post, titled, “Nicki Minaj Doesn’t Think Her Butt Is Unacceptable,” sought to defend the rapper from claims that her “sexualized image” represented a poor role model for youth.
Sandler asked Tanden to explain the post’s role on the site. “Is this ThinkProgress or the Huffington Post. Am I missing something?” Sandler asked. Tanden replied, “Yes, I agree with your point. “ThinkProgress started a culture vertical 4 yrs ago, and it was hugely successful as a feminist critique of culture … But it takes a lot of judgment to oversee this area. I will check in with Judd on quality control.”
Sandler forwarded the message to Podesta, who served as CAP’s president from its 2003 founding until Tanden took over in 2011. “For what it’s worth, I think this didn’t go over the line,” Podesta told Sandler.
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Sandler replied, “It’s not that I’m offended, which I’m not, but what’s this got to do with Think Progress and the issues it purports to raise. How is this relevant?”
Podesta offered little explanation, writing, “Gender and racial and booty equity.”
The exchange was included in emails obtained from Podesta’s personal Gmail account and published by WikiLeaks. The website has published more than 21,000 messages obtained from Podesta this month.
