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Salon: Colleagues demand GOP leader Kevin McCarthy apologize for racist coronavirus tweet: "It's dangerous"
Slate - House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has so far resisted calls to apologize for a racist tweet that referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese coronavirus.”
Monday’s tweet promoted a link about the virus from the Centers for Disease Control’s website alongside this comment: “Everything you need to know about the Chinese coronavirus can be found on one, regularly-updated website.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded an immediate apology from her colleague across the aisle.
“Bigoted statements which spread misinformation and blame Asians and the Asian American community for #coronavirus make us all less safe,” Pelosi tweeted. “@GOPLeader must delete this tweet and apologize immediately.”. . .
“Kevin McCarthy’s comment was racist,” Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Wednesday in an email. “The term ‘Chinese coronavirus’ is racist, because it blames China and the Chinese people for COVID-19, a disease that can affect all people regardless of their race. With rising fears and anxiety over the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s inexcusable for GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to engage in racial labeling, instead of focusing on solutions to this public health crisis.” . . .
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