I’m not one to call for the firing of a media employee who screws up, especially when he or she is just reflecting the prevailing tone of that corporate culture. It’s like punishing somebody for being drawn into a cult. But if you tell me you’ve fired somebody, I want a name.
Earlier this week, whoever drew the short straw, and was consigned to run the @MSNBC Twitter feed that day, posted the following (screencap courtesy of Twitchy):
Are you a right-winger? Then here’s the ad you’re supposed to hate:
Personally, I went “awww,” but I guess I’m just a RINO.
But see, we’re supposed to be driven into a rage because we’re presented with a scenario where a black man is married to a white woman. Because this is 1950 or something.
Never mind that it was MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry who had to apologize to Mitt Romney a few weeks ago because of the mockery of his biracial family on her show. That lesson was not learned by at least one unknown person at MSNBC.
In the wake of the Republican National Committee’s call for an effective boycott of MSNBC over an offensive tweet, network president Phil Griffin issued an apology Thursday.
“The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable,” Griffin wrote in a statement read on air by The Cycle host Ari Melber, according to Mediate. “We immediately acknowledged it was offensive and wrong, apologized and deleted it.”
“We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet,” he continued. “I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone offended. At MSNBC, we believe in passionate, strong debate about the issues, and we invite voices from all sides to participate. That will never change. Signed, Phil Griffin.”
That’s nice.
Hey, Phil: What’s the name of the employee you just fired for this?
Yeah, I didn’t think so. That means there was no firing. You’re just telling us what you think we want to hear, in response to direct pressure from the head of the RNC. You’re just worried about Republicans boycotting your network and sending its already-abysmal ratings into oblivion.
It’s cynical and dishonest, and we’re not falling for it. Give us a name, give us some proof, or quit lying.
This isn’t the first time the jerks at NBC have pulled something like this. In 2012, another unnamed NBC employee fiddled around with George Zimmerman’s 911 call to make him sound like a racist:
We were told that employee was fired too, but we still don’t know his or her name. And oddly enough, that case involved race as well. Man oh man, did it ever. Probably just a coincidence, right?
NBC demands transparency from everyone except themselves. Or from Democratic presidential administrations. But I repeat myself.
Update: I wasn’t aware of this, but this Cheerios ad is a sequel to one they made last year. MSNBC claimed there was a “backlash” against that ad because some YouTube commenters were racist dicks about it. Um, that’s because they’re YouTube commenters. Anybody who’s been on the Internet for more than 5 minutes knows that YouTube commenters are the lowest of the low. Anybody who’s not dumb enough to take a job at MSNBC after 2008, that is…
Update:
Nobody got fired at @MSNBC for that Cheerios tweet. Phil Griffin is lying.
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) January 31, 2014