MSNBC host Joy Reid spiraled Thursday during her show, going on a nearly 3-minute rant to Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, preventing him from answering her question.
Donalds appeared on “The ReidOut” to discuss a statement Donalds made while speaking at a Philadelphia event, in which the lawmaker commented on how black marriage rates were higher during the Jim Crow era. Following Donalds’s response to the pushback over his statement, Reid went into detail about a story in which a black son and father were brutally attacked and murdered during the Jim Crow era over the son’s love letter to a white woman, stating that the black man in the home “had no rights, could not protect his wife from rape, could not protect his son from lynching.” (RELATED: Black GOP Rep Says ‘MSNBC Is Using’ Joy Reid After She Dismisses Him As Token MAGA Prop)
“So again, why would you quote that era and say that at that time, the family all being in the home together was something we should think of as a good thing?” Reid questioned.
“Well, first of all, Joy, the story you bring up and you’re bringing up is a tragedy. One of the great tragedies of the Jim Crow era. This is why those policies —” Donalds began.
“I’m asking why you would quote that era?” Reid asked.
“They were disgusting and distasteful. All I was talking about, Joy, was the marriage rate in the black —” Donalds tried again.
“So that era — what was the benefit of a man in the family? Again, sir, I’m sorry, I let you talk for a long time,” Reid jumped in.
“Joy am I allowed to talk or are you going to talk over me?” Donalds questioned.
“Sorry. No, no, no. Talk over you? You have gotten a chance to speak a lot congressman,” Reid pushed.
The two continued to volley back and forth on the issue as Donalds attempted to get his response to the question out before Reid doubled down on the question to the lawmaker.
“I’m trying to respond to what you brought up Joy,” Donalds stated.
“You’re going to answer my question now and not filibuster. No, this is the question —” Reid stated.
“I’m trying to answer Joy, are you going to let me do that? That’s what I’m trying to answer, Joy, but now you’re cutting me off,” Donalds noted.
“This is the question you need to answer. If black men, —” Reid began.
“I’m trying to answer Joy, are you going to let me do that?” Donalds asked.
“Hold on, give me a second. Take a breath. Take a breath,” Reid responded.
“Are you going to let me do that?” Donalds questioned again.
“If a black man, could not pro —” Reid continued.
“I would love to do it. I would ask you to do the same,” Donalds stated.
“It’s my show. If a black man, a black father, could not protect his wife, his son, or himself from lynching and violence, how is him being in the home mean that that is an era that was better for the black family or that we should think of as a good thing?” Reid asked.
“First of all, Joy, I never said it was better for black people in Jim Crow,” Donalds responded. “I have never said that. And even my own words say that. If you’re talking about the importance of black fathers in the home, or frankly all fathers in the home, it is always for the betterment of children to have leadership. Yes, for safety, for having two people in the home to help provide the economic needs for those children, so the family can succeed. That’s a wonderful thing, we should always get back to that, not to Jim Crow.”
“This is the point of the gaslighting and the lying that is occurring with what I said,” he continued. “Don’t try to impose the fact that the marriage rates were better, higher, I want to be clear, higher in the Jim Crow era to mean that I think Jim Crow was great. That’s a lie. That is gaslighting. I would never say such a thing, which is why the Jim Crow era –”
“You quoted Jim Crow. You brought it up. You’re the one who brought it up,” Reid cut in.
“All I was talking about was the timeline in America and now you’re trying to gaslight like everybody else that’s trying to gaslight, but I’m not going to let you gaslight and misuse my words, Joy. I’m not going to let you do it,” Donalds pressed.
Donalds has continued to defend his statement, appearing on CNN to argue his words were taken out of context. Additionally, Donalds received major pushback from Democratic leaders including Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who called on the lawmaker to apologize to black Americans, according to the Hill.
