BET host Marc Lamont Hill suggested Kellyanne Conway is racist because of the way she positioned herself on a couch in the Oval Office Monday, saying it was a sign of disrespect to minorities.
Reporters obsessed Tuesday over a photo of Conway with her feet tucked under her on the White House couch during a photo op with President Donald Trump and representatives from the historically black college community (HBCU). Many accused her of violating decorum, although she was in that position in order to snap photos of the event.
Lamont Hill took the criticism a step further though in a series of tweets Tuesday. “It is hard to believe that Kellyanne Conway would been sitting like this if the President were meeting with the NRA or White evangelicals…” he tweeted.
He’s a popular BET host, CNN commentator, author and black activist. “Conway’s posture speaks to a broader sentiment of disrespect and disregard for particular groups, namely HBCUs,” he added. “She saw this as trivial…”
One of his followers less inclined to jump immediately to accusations of racism pointed out Conway may have been keeping her legs out of the line of shot for other photographers in the room.
“That’s not what the HBCU presidents I spoke to said,” Lamont Hill replied. “They said they were shocked by her posture. But keep the hypotheticals coming.”
Conway told The Washington Post the press should focus on the substance of the event and less on the photo. “Coverage should rightly be on the actual visit and the incredible, important work of these men and women at HBCUs,” she said. An aide to Trump who was present for the photo said she was the one who encouraged Conway to get a better shot, and told The Washington Post the counselor to the president has “incredible respect” for the Oval Office.
“She was taking a photo,” Ben Dreyfuss tweeted. “This is the dumbest outrage ever.”
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