Alyssa Milano Says She Won’t Apologize For Comparing MAGA Hats To KKK Hoods
In an opinion piece for the Wrap, Alyssa Milano doubled down on her statement that MAGA hats are the “new white hood.” After facing a backlash from conservatives that she says included death threats for a tweet comparing the red hats to the KKK symbol, she said that won’t apologize for her comment and reiterated that she believes the hat stands for racism and white nationalism.
The actress and activist addressed the controversy in the op-ed, saying that she had received death threats and demands for an apology.
“I sent out a tweet that read, ‘The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.’ Right-wing pundits and anonymous trolls alike screamed for my head – literally and figuratively,” she wrote on Wednesday. “My husband received death threats on his cell phone. Many demanded an apology.”
But instead of apologizing, she wrote that she firmly believes the content of her tweet and went on to defend her position. Instead of apologies, she thanks the boys for igniting the conversation around race in the country.
“Here’s the thing: I was right. So, I won’t apologize to these boys. Or anyone who wears that hat. But I will thank them. I will thank them for lighting a fire underneath the conversation about systemic racism and misogyny in this country and the role President Donald Trump has had in cultivating it and making it acceptable.”
The other day I tweeted that the red MAGA hats are the new white hoods.
People were pissed!
People demanded an apology!
The media reported I was in “hot water” and was receiving “backlash” for saying this.
Well, here’s my op-ed addressing it all. https://t.co/pARWAmLwHU
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 24, 2019
Milano faced criticism after comparing the two symbols after seeing the confrontation between Covington Catholic teen Nick Sandmann and Native American elder and activist Nathan Phillips. She says that in the video, she saw teens there to protest a woman’s right to abortion access and “flaunting” toxic masculinity. She said that the boys were behaving in a way that reflected what the MAGA hat seems to represent to her: racism and white nationalism.
She then talked about her feelings for Donald Trump, who she says comes from a line of men who have participated in offensive and even racist behavior. Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was arrested in 1927 after an altercation at a Klan parade. The senior Trump was also accused of racist business practices in relation to his real estate holdings.
Since then, Milano writes, Trump has carried on the tradition of what the Klan stood for, flirting with white nationalist ideals and using the language used by white nationalist leaders. She says that anyone who wears a MAGA hat endorses this ideology.
She does say that she is sorry for “decades of oppression and abuses” that minorities have faced in the U.S., both historically and currently.
“Sorry not sorry,” she ends the piece.
