Media ignores New York mayor and Clinton’s racially tinged joke

The mayor, whose family is interracial, joked with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Saturday evening at the annual Inner Circle Dinner that he is “running on CP time.”

“CP time” generally means “colored people’s time,” which is a racial stereotype suggesting black people are frequently late to events.

The mayor didn’t actually say the term “colored people’s,” and instead used the acronym.

After he joked that it took him so long to endorse Clinton in the Democratic primary because he is “running on CP time,” the former secretary of state jumped in to explain “CP” stood for “cautious politician.”

The audience groaned in response to their banter.

The press, meanwhile, has been uncharacteristically silent in its reaction to the tongue-in-cheek ribbing between Clinton and de Blasio.

Some reporters have sounded off on social media, signaling their distaste for the joke, and some blogs have published a few disapproving write-ups. Some in media have characterized the incident at “cringeworthy.”

Cable and network television, and the nation’s most-read newspapers, however, have been mostly silent on the topic.

The front-pages of the print editions of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today and the Washington Post made no mention of the incident Monday.

And there has been virtually no mention of the joke on either cable or network television, according to data compiled by TV Eyes.

The press’ general disinterest in de Blasio’s racial joke is a change of pace for an industry that has devoted a great deal of time and energy recently to reporting and discussing so-called “racial dog whistles” in U.S. politics.