Rupert Murdoch—a white man and 84-year-old billionaire who owns the world's second-largest news conglomerate—praised Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson in a tweet Wednesday night and suggested that the former neurosurgeon would be a "real black President."
https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/651924724960874497
"Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else," Murdoch tweeted, clearly taking a jab at the country's current black president, Barack Obama.
Murdoch kicked up dust around the idea that President Obama is not authentically black. Carson has become a right-wing darling known for his contrarian views on race relations—especially as a black man—and a few, well, outlandish statements he's made about black people ever since he threw his hat into the ring.
Most recently, Carson made a joke some viewed as inappropriate, about how he was able to run from cops as a black youth because officers weren't shooting people back then. He also has said that the Black Lives Matter activist group bullies people. So it makes sense that a conservative news giant like Murdoch (who owns Fox News) thinks that Carson is authentically black—it's probably because Murdoch agrees with Carson's views.
After people fired back at Murdoch's tweet, he posted another tweet referencing a New York magazine article that he said describes how the minority community is disappointed with President Obama.
https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/651926180766056448
After probably being bombarded with even more ire, Murdoch posted another tweet Thursday morning apologizing for his comment, and suggested that he finds both Obama and Carson "charming."
https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/652094791602319360
Murdoch should talk to real African and Hispanic Americans. He'll likely learn that we don't want Ben Carson representing our views—on any matter.
For more of black Twitter, check out The Chatterati on The Root and follow The Chatterati on Twitter.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.