Oh man, just another reason to be hyper-aware of what you say while on TV in this Internet age: Last night, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews awkwardly tried to compliment President Obama and the country at large following the State of the Union by saying, “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.” Naturally a Twitter backlash ensued, and the video is now all over the ‘net like white on rice.
Chris Matthews is no stranger to on-air blunders — remember that whole Erin Burnett thing? — but this one appears to have been a doozy.
Last night, after the State of the Union, Matthews was chatting on air with Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann when he started waxing poetic on how President Obama has come into his own as the leader of this country, and how racial divides seemed to have evaporated when he addressed U.S. citizens and politicians alike last night. That’s when the journo came out with the now oft-repeated phrase: “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.”
Latching on to that one sentiment, Twitter commenters went for the jugular — there’s still shocked tweets coming in — prompting Matthews to come back just 90 minutes later to clarify. The journalist explained that, having grown up during a time of racial strife, it was striking to him that skin color had no impact on the interactions among the assemblage: a black president and a mostly white audience.
Despite posts to the contrary, Matthews was not seeking to make a racially derogatory comment in any respect, but perhaps he should have chosen his words more carefully. Later on in his ruminations, he himself goes on to say: “It’s so hard to even talk about; maybe I shouldn’t talk about it, but I am. I thought it was profound, that way.”
Yes, race is an exceedingly hard topic to talk about, especially when the increasingly plugged-in world is listening as closely as it does. The fact that Matthews came on back so soon after speaking because of what people were saying on a microblogging site is particularly noteworthy, though, and truly demonstrates how people can make themselves heard via social media. Take a look at the video below and let us know your thoughts on everything from Matthews’s sentiments to the public’s reaction in the comments.
[via ABC News]
Tags: politics, social media, state of the union, twitter, viral video
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