The New York Times issued a statement Tuesday evening in defense of editorial board member Mara Gay’s outlandish comments about the American flag and white people, saying people are supposedly “ill-informed” of the actual context.
“New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay’s comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context,” the outlet’s communications department stated. “Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.”
New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay's comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context. Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 8, 2021
The Times staffer said on MSNBC Tuesday she was angered when she saw “dozens of American flags” on trucks and argued that we need to “separate America from whiteness.”
“I was on Long Island this weekend, visiting a really dear friend, and I was really disturbed,” Gay, who is also an MSNBC analyst, said. “I saw, you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with expletives against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases, just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing, because essentially the message was clear: It was, ‘This is my country. This is not your country. I own this.’”
“And so until we’re ready to have that conversation, this is going to continue,” Gay continued. “What really is concerning to me as well is, it’s not just Democrats in Congress. I think there’s a large percentage of Americans, even some of my colleagues in journalism, who are invested in some way in pretending that this isn’t the threat that it is. That is the real concern. Because, you know, the Trump voters who are not going to get on board with democracy, they’re a minority. You can marginalize them, long-term. But if we don’t take the threat seriously, then I think we’re all in really bad shape.”
There were many who criticized how the Times responded to Gay’s controversial remarks.
LOL. NYT Basically: Don’t listen to the actual words that came out of our writers mouth… she meant something entirely different than what anyone with a brain heard verbatim.
Also I look forward to your coverage of #RacistHunter if it was me I know you’d be all over it so… https://t.co/0LpNuk0TzJ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 8, 2021
Dear God….the @nytimes justifies mocking the American flag because Donald Trump likes the American flag.
It’s propaganda for the ruling party. We see it. https://t.co/r3HnRNHCyD
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 8, 2021
No they weren’t. And @ me next time https://t.co/h2XExaOwTz
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 8, 2021
The Federalist reached out to the Times for additional comment but did not immediately get a response.
Source: The Federalist
