Another day, another instance of MSNBC crying racism.
This time, the network’s liberal commentators have their britches in a bundle over criticism of President Barack Obama’s selfie at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service and First Lady Michelle Obama’s grumpy look — criticism they believe is “racist” and “sexist.”
On Tuesday, the photograph of the President’s snap with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt went viral, making the rounds on social and traditional media sites. Both sides of the aisle chimed in and many condemned the selfie as inappropriate in the context of a memorial service.
But the bipartisan nature of the criticism didn’t stop MSNBC host Thomas Roberts and his commentators on Wednesday from crying foul and blaming Republicans.
Irin Carmon, a reporter for MSNBC.com, harshly denounced the media furor.
“This is a big tempest in a teapot,” Carmon said. “And it’s a confluence of racist and sexist stereotypes, as if Michelle is this angry black woman, as if President Obama is this oversexed black man…”
Roberts asked Lehigh Valley University professor James Peterson if it was going too far to call the media hype racist. Peterson said it wasn’t “too far,” agreeing with Carmon.
“It’s not taking it too far once you situate it within the context within which the Right Wing has attacked the first lady since even before she was the first lady,” he responded. “Irin is right here, that they’ve tried to couch her in this stereotypical racist and sexist narrative of the angry black woman.”
