Ira Madison, a culture writer for MTV news, published this tweet about Jeff Sessions today:
The little girl in the picture is Sessions granddaughter. This was pointed out by dozens of people including CNN’s Jake Tapper. The tweet also brought a strong response from the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza:
Disgusting tweet. The little girl is his granddaughter. Delete your account and find some humanity. https://t.co/8OZUtY5FcA
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 10, 2017
Never tweet https://t.co/EcwXUF6ccm
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) January 10, 2017
Madison responded by shifting from “humor” to a serious response in which he referred to the girl as a prop:
https://twitter.com/ira/status/818841675728568322
He kept digging:
https://twitter.com/ira/status/818842659984994305
As Jake Tapper pointed out in response to a question, it’s not at all uncommon for nominees to bring grandchildren to hearings:
.@lemonsand It happens all the time. pic.twitter.com/iXgMemXS59
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 10, 2017
Eventually, Madison decided to delete his original tweet, offering this explanation:
https://twitter.com/ira/status/818859326018293760
In fact, Madison offered no such evidence. And the quip about Sessions’ granddaughter was his first comment on the topic, not an aside he added later. Apparently he never learned the first rules of holes: When you’re in one, stop digging.
The same advice might apply more broadly to MTV News. Just last month they published a widely mocked video clip offering 2017 New Year’s resolutions for white people. The video was pulled a short time later but copies are still available on You Tube:
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