MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson is no longer working for The Root weeks after making controversial remarks about supporters of Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Johnson, who served as a politics editor of the influential black-focused news and culture website, recently removed the publication’s information from his social media platforms, and sources at the publication confirmed to the Daily Beast he is no longer employed by the site.
The end of his tenure came a month after he argued the Vermont senator doesn’t prioritize “diversity” while “racist liberal whites seem to love” him on a SiriusXM radio show. He said the Sanders base “always ha[s] a problem with any person of color who doesn’t want to follow with the orthodoxy of their ‘lord and savior’ Bernie Sanders.”
“He cares nothing for intersectionality. I don’t care how many people from the island of misfit black girls you throw out there to defend you,” he continued.
The use of the term “misfit black girls” led to backlash from the Sanders campaign.
“I hope we can have political disputes without engaging in open racism and sexism,” said Briahna Joy Gray, the national press secretary for the Sanders campaign. “This misogynoir is disappointing, but not surprising from @DrJasonJohnson. I hope we can all encourage each other to be better.”
Johnson apologized on social media, calling his comments “harmful and unnecessary.”
Still, MSNBC benched Johnson, and he has not appeared on the network since making the comments last month, according to a search of his name on Grabien, a television clipping service. MSNBC has not responded to multiple requests for comment about Johnson.
Other network anchors and commentators on MSNBC have singled Sanders out for scathing criticism.
Chris Matthews, who retired earlier this month after a litany of on-air blunders and alleged inappropriate behavior, compared Sanders’s victory in the Nevada primary to the Nazi invasion of France. He later apologized for the comment.
Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.
