MSNBC’s Touré Hasn’t Tweeted in Exactly One Year

Here’s a flashback for you all: Exactly one year ago, MSNBC’s Touré bowed out from Twitter after starting a shitstorm for his thoughts on white privilege and Holocaust survival.

For those who don’t remember the full story: The Cycle co-host tweeted out praise for Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ widely-read Atlantic column making the case for reparations. When one Twitter user confronted the MSNBC host with a series of tweets arguing against reparations and the concept of “white privilege,” this happened:

The power of whiteness: RT @hope_and_chains: My family survived a concentration camp, came to the US w/ nothing, LEGALLY, and made it work.

— Touré (@Toure) May 23, 2014

The resulting outrage was strong and lasted a while. He finally apologized (to lackluster reviews, natch) four days later:

Late last week, I foolishly got involved in a twitter exchange regarding an article about reparations… (1 of 3).

— Touré (@Toure) May 27, 2014

It was a dumb idea by me to debate serious and nuanced topics in 140 characters or less… (Cont.)

— Touré (@Toure) May 27, 2014

In an attempt to comment on racism in post World War II America, I used a shorthand that was insensitive and wrong. (Cont.)

— Touré (@Toure) May 27, 2014

…I am very sorry and will make sure this doesn’t happen again.

— Touré (@Toure) May 27, 2014

And how did Touré decide to make sure it never happened again?

The MSNBC host seems to have heeded the popular warning: “Never tweet.” And, hey, his stress level is probably better for it.

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