MSNBC has had to apologize again, this time for an insensitive tweet sent Wednesday about the Cheerios Super Bowl commercial with an interracial family. The left-leaning network suggested that Republicans wouldn’t like the commercial and was criticized for it. MSNBC did delete the tweet and apologized, but that’s not stopping the Republican National Committee from boycotting the network.
On Wednesday, General Mills unveiled the cute commercial, which featured the same family that caused a stir in a previous ad in May 2013. While tweeting a link to its own story on the commercial, MSNBC added, “Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new#Cheerios ad w/ biracial family. http://t.co/SpB4rQDoAR.”
Later, the tweet was gone, replaced with two apologetic messages.
Earlier, this account tweeted an offensive line about the new Cheerios ad. We deeply regret it. It does not reflect the position of msnbc.
— msnbc (@msnbc) January 30, 2014
We are deleting the earlier offensive tweet. It does not reflect msnbc's position and we apologize.
— msnbc (@msnbc) January 30, 2014
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has called for a boycott of MSNBC, banning his staff from “appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC,” he wrote in a letter, reports TIME. Priebus also suggested that elected Republican officials should stay away from MSNBC.
“This is more than just a tweet or an offhand comment,” Priebus wrote. “This is part of a pattern of behavior that has gotten markedly worse, and until [MSNBC President] Phil Griffin personally apologizes and takes corrective action, we cannot be part of this network’s toxic programming.”
This is just the latest controversy for MSNBC. Martin Bashir left the network after his controversial comments about Sarah Palin and Melissa Harris-Perry had to apologize for her comment on Mitt Romney’s black grandchild. Alec Baldwin also lost his job after using anti-gay slurs.
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