Montage: MSNBC guest Elie Mystal’s history of racially charged rhetoric
‘The Nation’s’ Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal has repeatedly espoused controversial opinions during left-leaning media segments.
Frequent MSNBC guest Elie Mystal has repeatedly garnered attention for racially charged comments, but the NBCUniversal News Group division appears to be staying silent on how the network feels about his recurrent rants.
Mystal, who works as a justice correspondent for The Nation, attacked Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Saturday during a segment on "The Cross Connection." Mystal suggested Walker is only supported by the GOP because he does what they "want from their Negroes."
"You ask why are Republicans backing this man who’s so clearly unintelligent, who so clearly doesn’t have independent thoughts, but that’s actually the reason. Walker is going to do what he’s told, and that is what Republicans like. That’s what Republicans want from their Negroes: to do what they were told. And Walker presents exactly as a person who lacks independent thoughts, lacks an independent agenda, lacks an independent ability to grasp policies, and he’s just going to go in there and vote like Mitch McConnell tells them to vote," Mystal told host Tiffany Cross.
Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, speaks during a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Walker responded to Mystal's comment yesterday, stating "A lot of people have been asking me to say something about the man on MSNBC that called me an N-word. Here’s what I got to say about that: Shame on MSNBC and shame on him. I’m going to pray for both of them because they need Jesus."
But, this is far from the first instance in which Mystal has used inflammatory language to attack Republicans, or even Walker for that matter.
The far-left writer went after Walker and Black Republicans in an April column titled "The Herschel Walker Senate Campaign Is an Insult to Black People." Mystal called Walker’s campaign a "political minstrel show."
Mystal discussed his piece during another appearance on "The Cross Connection," asserting he draws a "hard distinction" between "Black conservatives" and "Black Republicans."
"I draw a hard distinction between Black conservatives, of which there are many, one of whom was just elected mayor of New York City, in fact, and these tokens who are out here right now shucking and jiving for their White handlers," Mystal said; his former reference was to Democratic New York City mayor Eric Adams.
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Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder speaks to supporters during a campaign stop outside the Hall of Justice downtown Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
NBCUniversal was asked by Fox News Digital for its thoughts about these comments by Mystal, as well as a slew of other comments that outraged conservatives. Mystal himself was also asked whether he stood by some of his most incendiary comments. Neither NBC nor Mystal responded to the request. Walker's campaign also didn't respond to a request for comment.
Black conservative radio host Larry Elder, who faced racially charged attacks during his unsuccessful bid to unseat California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D., last year, told Fox News Digital that Mystal's comments show how effective Democrats and the media have been in "indoctrinating blacks to hate the party of Lincoln, the party that opposed Jim Crow, [and] the party that is pro family and school choice."
"And if you are Black and you dare question open borders, abortion, and the large percentage of Black babies who are aborted, the power of the teachers union, high taxes, excessive regulation and family-destroying welfare dependency, you are a ‘sell-out,’" he added.
Elder himself has been the victim of racism from the left. During his campaign challenging Newsom for the gubernatorial seat last year, a Los Angeles Times columnist called Elder a "Black face of White supremacy." A separate incident saw a woman in a gorilla mask hurl eggs and racial epithets at Elder.
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of the Air Force in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2023 and the Future Years Defense Program, in Dirksen Building on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Earlier this year, Mystal also attacked Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. In May, during then-Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing, Mystal claimed Hawley’s tough questions aimed at Jackson were his way of "trying to get her killed."
"What Josh Hawley is doing, let's be very clear. What Josh Hawley is doing when he tries to do this is he's trying to get her killed. He is trying to get violence done against a Supreme Court nominee," Mystal said on MSNBC.
Last year, Mystal, an attorney who frequently writes about the criminal justice system, joined "Democracy Now!" to discuss the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. At the time, Mystal slammed Judge Bruce Schroeder, arguing that he was "biased" and "racist."
"[Schroeder] has made a series of decisions, each one perhaps may be individually indefensible, but in totality lead to the impression of a biased, racist judge, with his Trump rally cellphone, that is trying to get Rittenhouse a walk," Mystal claimed.
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The Nation correspondent Elie Mystal appears on MSNBC in 2019. (Screenshot/MSNBC) (Screenshot/MSNBC)
His ringtone was that of Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem "God Bless the USA." Critics argued at the time that the ringtone meant Schroeder was a Trump supporter, as the song is played at Trump rallies.
Mystal has also made attention-getting comments about the Constitution and Founding Fathers. During a March appearance on ABC’s "The View," Mystal told the panel of women that the Constitution is "kind of trash."
"It was written by slavers and colonists and White people who are willing to make deals with slavers and colonists," Mystal said after co-host Joy Behar asked for clarification. "They didn’t ask anybody that looked like me what they thought about the Constitution."
A little over a year prior, Mystal said on C-SPAN that he believed the Constitution is a "racist document."
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"It was written at a time when the people were racist. It was written to support a White supremacist state," he added.
Mystal also claimed in June that the Second Amendment was created to have armed militias "put down slave revolts" and to "preserve White supremacy."
A number of other segments involving Mystal have also garnered backlash, including a time in which the commentator said the only people who have rights in the U.S. under the current Supreme Court are "cis hetero White men" or Uzi machine pistols, and a Twitter post in which he daydreamed about crashing a vehicle into one of former President Donald Trump’s properties.
Fox News' Brian Flood and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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