The Mirror

RNC’s Priebus sees EBONY’s gaffe as teachable moment

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Moral of the story? If you’re going to go all racial, never call someone a “white dude” unless you’re absolutely sure he is one.

This memorandum was released by the Republican National Committee just after 4 p.m. today in response to Jamilah Lemieux, the EBONY Magazine senior editor who went a little haywire on Twitter Thursday, saying she had no desire to listen to a white conservative dude like Raffi Williams, deputy flack at the RNC. Indeed, she told him to “shut up!” (See the whole brutal but kinda hilarious conversation here.)

Except, of course, he’s black and the son of FNC’s liberal commentator Juan Williams.

MEMORANDUM

FROM: Orlando Watson, Communications Director for Black Media

TO: Interested Parties

RE: EBONY’s Apology for Senior Editor’s Biased Attacks

Yesterday, a senior editor for EBONY, Jamilah Lemieux, was attacking black conservatives on Twitter. One of our RNC staffers, Deputy Press Secretary Raffi Williams, tried to challenge her assumptions and called her out for her bias.

She responded by dismissing him as “a white dude.” (He’s black.) She then went on to refer to her detractors as “a house of roaches.” She said she had “no interest in this conversation.” “I wish I knew less” about black Republicans, she said. (You can read more in National Review and watch Raffi’s appearance on Fox and Friends.)

On Friday morning, Chairman Reince Priebus sent a letter to EBONY asking for an apology for dismissing black Republicans and the validity of their opinions in public discourse.

This afternoon, EBONY responded with an apology posted on their website. The RNC appreciates and accepts their response, and Raffi has accepted their apology. Despite the actions of one editor, we’re glad to see EBONY embracing a higher standard of journalistic integrity.

As Chairman Priebus said, we hope “we can use this unfortunate episode as a catalyst for greater engagement and understanding between the Republican Party and black America.”