MSNBC Edits Column After Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA Issues Warning with Cease and Desist Letter
Screenshot via Rumble
MSNBC slightly altered a column after upsetting Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and getting cautioned with a cease and desist letter about allegedly defamatory statements about the conservative media group.
The point of contention was a line in an opinion column by Julio Ricardo Varela accusing Hispanic Republicans of “provid[ing] cover for their White nationalist allies.” One of those allies, according to Varela, is Turning Point USA, taking issue with past work between the group and freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).
Valera wrote he considers Turning Point USA “a MAGA White supremacist cult,” according to a Fox News report.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk addressed the post and cease and desist letter on Friday through Twitter.
“TPUSA’s legal team has issued a Cease and Desist demanding that MSNBC immediately issue a retraction & apology for platforming these reckless and defamatory statements,” he wrote.
MSNBC reportedly softened the message after the letter, now replacing previous language by accusing Kirk of expressing concern over the “diminishing and decreasing White demographics in America,” and pushing “the White nationalist belief of great replacement theory.”
An update was added at the end of the opinion column too, reading: “This article has been updated to clarify Turning Point USA’s connections to White nationalist beliefs.”
Varela’s article accused Luna of following the “MAGA playbook” for political success and other connections beyond her Turning Point USA work was highlighted.
Valera wrote:
A Latina version of Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Luna, according to a summary of her career in the Tampa Bay Times, followed the MAGA playbook to gain political fame. She has ties to chief Kevin McCarthy opponent, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and has worked with Turning Point USA, whose founder Charlie Kirk has expressed concern over the “diminishing and decreasing White demographics in America,” and pushes the white nationalist belief of great replacement theory.
The column was updated only hours after Kirk announced the cease and desist letter.
