Media top headlines April 30
MSNBC and CNN primetime devoting zero coverage to 'Uncle Tim' Twitter controversy and more round out today's top media headlines.
Liberal media outlets almost completely ignored the "Uncle Tim" slurs that trended on social media against Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., after his rebuttal Wednesday to President Biden's address to Congress.
Scott, the lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, infuriated progressives with his speech, which included remarks that the United States isn't a racist country. After his rebuttal, "Uncle Tim" trended on Twitter, a play on the "Uncle Tom" slur for Blacks viewed as overly deferential to Whites.
Yet the primetime shows on liberal cable outlets CNN and MSNBC ignored the attacks Thursday, as did "CBS Evening News" and ABC's "World News Tonight." CNN and MSNBC's websites also both skipped the racially charged story, as did the New York Times. The network's morning shows also skipped the story Friday morning, according to a transcript search.
"NBC Nightly News" briefly mentioned the controversy on its Thursday broadcast, while the Washington Post passively mentioned it by quoting an activist who was among those using the racist phrase.
"Trotting out sycophantic Black folks who will serve as apologists for white supremacy is a tried-and-true tactic that racists have used for centuries," Bishop Talbert Swan told the Post.
"He was among those who spent the hours after Scott’s speech tweeting using the #UncleTim hashtag, a derisive reference to Uncle Tom," the Post reported.
In its tweet promoting the story, the Post said Republicans had "seized" on comments by a member of their own party.
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MSNBC's far-left program "The Reidout" briefly addressed the story Thursday evening, with one guest defending the use of the phrase due to Scott's Republican politics.
A Twitter spokesperson told Fox News Thursday morning that the company was blocking the phrase, but it was allowed to trend for hours overnight.
"Intolerance so often comes from the left with words like 'Uncle Tim' and the 'n-word' being used against me," Scott told "Fox & Friends" about the attacks. "And last night what was trending in social media was 'Uncle Tim,' and they doubled down on this concept of liberal oppression. It is stunning in 2021 that those who speak about ending discrimination want to end it by more discrimination."
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Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have echoed Scott's comments in the days since about the country not being racist, although both said the country had issues with racism that still needed to be addressed.