MSNBC host Toure apologized on Twitter this week for tweeting that Jews who managed to survive Hitler’s genocide in the Holocaust did so because of “the power of whiteness.”
Toure, who co-hosts a TV show that gets virtually no ratings, was blasted on social media for that offensive claim, and after a few days had elapsed, he issued a multi-tweet quasi apology on Twitter. Toure has apparently not as yet seen fit to apologize on the air, however.
Efraim Zuroff, an official with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, weighed in on Toure’s comment, declaring, “It’s obviously absurd and smacks of intense and disgusting anti-Semitism. It’s reverse racism basically…”
This wouldn’t be the first time that the ultra-liberal, Obama-supporting network has encountered significant difficulties in actually celebrating diversity.
For some reason, at least two other MSNBC hosts are also obsessed with making completely objectionable references to the Holocaust during which six million Jews were murdered. Ronan Farrow , the anchor of another ratings-challenged program on the cable channel, compared his social life or lack thereof to the Holocaust . Said Farrow on Twitter, “… all my dates are like ‘Schindler’s List’, am I doing something wrong?”
Another MSNBC commentator, Ed Schultz , added to his ever growing list of highly offensive comments when he tweeted, then quickly deleted the following on May 14, 2014:
@Matthops82 Checkout this tweet Ed sent out and then deleted quickly. pic.twitter.com/1kPo6UejRJ
— Elefante (@Calle_Elefante) May 12, 2014
Toure’s tweeted apology (when combined) read as follows:
Late last week, I foolishly got involved in a twitter exchange regarding an article about reparations. It was a dumb idea by me to debate serious and nuanced topics in 140 characters or less… In an attempt to comment on racism in post World War II America, I used a shorthand that was insensitive and wrong… I am very sorry and will make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Toure’s apology didn’t exactly go over well with many social media users either.
Shorter Toure: 140 characters made me look like an insensitive moron…even though I really am one.
— Matthew (@Matthops82) May 27, 2014
Alright, @toure , I’ll bite. Let’s hear the long version of white privilege accruing to concentration camp survivors.
— #YesAllTheH2 (@TheH2) May 27, 2014
Earlier this month, MSNBC made multiple apologies for airing a particular segment on Cinco de Mayo . According to the Hugo Balta, the president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, “This is simply the worst example I have seen of a discriminatory stereotypical portrayal of any community by any media. The fact that this was done by a news organization is abominable…”
Again, apologizing seems to be just another day at the office for MSNBC staffers. You may recall that host Melissa Harris-Perry apologized three times for mocking 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s African-American grandchild. And earlier this year, MSNBC President Phil Griffin apologized for a racially offensive tweet about a Cheerios commercial that would supposedly be hated by “right-wingers” and fired the employee responsible.
As you might remember, despite a very groveling apology, MSNBC host Martin Bashir lost his on-air job altogether after smearing Sarah Palin , the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican VP nominee.
Do you think a Holocaust concentration-camp survivor — as Toure originally suggested — in any way, shape, form, or manner benefited from white privilege?
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