NPR Deletes Tweet Describing Assassinated Former PM Shinzo Abe As ‘Divisive Arch-Conservative’
People pray near site of Shinzo Abe assassination. – Yuichi Yamazaki, Getty Images
NPR deleted a tweet on Friday calling Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated on Friday, “a divisive arch-conservative.”
“Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a divisive arch-conservative and one of his nation’s most powerful and influential figures, has died after being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, hospital officials said,” tweeted NPR.
NPR reprinted the Associated Press report on Abe’s death, the first paragraph of which read the same as the tweet.
Twitter users blasted NPR for its now-deleted tweet.
It wasn’t just the tweet that was smearing Shinzo Abe that NPR put out.
The lede paragraph of the article about his assassination is nearly identical, suggesting he had it coming. pic.twitter.com/hq8ETA8hCx
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2022
Gosh you people are awful. https://t.co/DnFz3JRyJX
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) July 8, 2022
“divisive arch-conservative”
I guess the only way to get respect fro the Left
Is to be
An “austere religious scholar” https://t.co/UXScjzyU3G— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) July 8, 2022
To the far left the middle always looks like the far right so this @NPR tweet is on brand. But should all Americans be paying taxes so NPR can make everything about their hatred? Including the assassination of Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister?https://t.co/axTu39dIrT pic.twitter.com/3xjNM0Y3YJ
— Hank Campbell (@HankCampbell) July 8, 2022
NPR: He had it coming https://t.co/Eh2awXHgjF
— Divisive Arch-Conservative Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) July 8, 2022
Following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, @NPR called him a “divisive arch-conservative.” pic.twitter.com/cD2SXpyxri
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) July 8, 2022
They cannot help themselves, even abroad. https://t.co/nvo3G06vN4
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 8, 2022
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) July 8, 2022
Absolutely shameful smear of a positively transformational leader and one of America’s best friends and allies. Such a long-tenured PM certainly united more than he divided. He was a reformer and defender of democratic Japan, and of the free world. pic.twitter.com/LsSiXmyOjZ
— Steve Yates (葉望輝) (@YatesComms) July 8, 2022
NPR doing their thing this morning. pic.twitter.com/V5NBtLm0tV
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 8, 2022
However, NPR doubled-down on and came under fire for blasting Abe with a new tweet, calling him an “ultra-nationalist.”
“Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister and ultranationalist, was killed at a campaign rally on Friday. Police tackled and arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan,” tweeted NPR.
You guys want to attempt a 3rd crack at this? https://t.co/1onzfMLZeN
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 8, 2022
This is like peeing on a bed after you just changed the sheets because you voided your bowels in it. How are you so bad at not being a douche? https://t.co/AadbsKYMrd
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) July 8, 2022
love freedom of media in all its forms but what if we also normalise calling dead lefties “far-left radicals”, “neo-communists,” “socialist agitators” etc if there is the slightest evidence to that effect https://t.co/oKuxBOz1Yd
— Matei Rosca (@mateirosca) July 8, 2022
One Twitter user posted screenshots showing glowing coverage of the death of Communist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro versus Abe’s.
“One of the most prominent international figures in the last half of the 20th century, Castro inspired both passionate love and hate,” read NPR’s obit on him. “Many who later lost faith in him can remember how they once admired the man who needed just a dozen men to launch the Cuban Revolution.”
NPR describing Fidel Castro vs. NPR describing Shinzo Abe posthumously. pic.twitter.com/lP1SatxgkI
— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) July 8, 2022
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