Chris Rufo says Joy Reid interview with him 'backfired' on MSNBC
Christopher Rufo, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow, on his interview with Joy Reid and 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones being granted tenure at UNC.
Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Chris Rufo took a swipe at MSNBC host Joy Reid Thursday after their fiery interview about critical race theory, saying her "childish" behavior backfired.
Reid, host of MSNBC's "The ReidOut," invited Rufo on her program last week but barely let him get a word in edgewise, interrupting him at least 15 times. Still, Rufo tried to dispel what he said were false pieces of information that the host had been telling her viewers, including that CRT "wasn't being taught in schools," and that most American students have been taught what she termed "confederate race theory."
On "America Reports, Rufo recalled that Reid spoke for 10 of the 13 minutes their interview lasted, calling it an "unhinged monologue."
"It actually backfired," he said, noting MSNBC's YouTube video of the exchange had been panned online for stating "Reid Schools Critical Race Theory Critic On Legal Scholarship." "Joy Reid's plan to just filibuster and bully and play this childish game … didn't work. Here's the simple truth. Critical race theory is a pernicious ideology that has taken root in our institutions … The only defense they have is to yell and scream and wave their hands. It's not going to work."
Rufo also commented on left-wing New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones earning tenure from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill after the offer was initially pulled. She is co-founder of the 1619 Project, an error-filled yet award-winning work of journalism which seeks to "reframe the country's history" as rooted firmly in racism and slavery.
Rufo said UNC-Chapel Hill's decision to grant Hannah-Jones tenure did "not surprise him in the least." But he said it's not a problem that can be solved on an individual level.
"This should be about the university system more broadly," Rufo said. "Departments of journalism across this country are a hotbed of ideological and very far left views. This doesn't surprise me in the least."
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A conservative journalist, he noted, would "never" have gotten offered tenure at a similar institution. Again, instead of focusing on controversial individuals, he suggested deep, structural reforms in American universities.