Right-Wing Twitter Bashes Lester Holt for Saying He’s Been ‘Treated With Respect’ By North Korea
An @NBCNews exclusive: “We have been treated with respect here.” @lesterholtnbc is just a few hours outside the capital of Pyongyang with a rare look inside North Korea pic.twitter.com/xTZM6QcLEy
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 22, 2018
Olympic season is almost here, and according to many, NBC News’ Lester Holt has not exactly gotten the network’s coverage off to a great start.
In a segment on Today, Holt reported from a ski resort in North Korea where athletes from both North and South Korea will be training. The two nations, Holt explained, are competing together in this year’s Olympics in PyeongChang.
“That’s fueling some sense of hope and optimism of cooperation in other ways between the two countries,” he added.
Holt then explained his and his team’s experience with North Korean immigrations.
“We quickly passed through immigrations, went through a very lengthy and very detailed customs inspection of not only our equipment but our personal items down to the novels we were reading, even, in one case, a toothbrush of our crew member’s.”
“But we have been treated with respect here,” he added. “We stayed in a guest house outside Pyongyang last night and then made our way to this ski resort to get a look at a part of North Korea that most Americans don’t see, and certainly a part they would like us to see.”
Holt’s somewhat rosy description of the historically brutal nation-state drew harsh criticism from right-wingers on Twitter:
I’ve been “treated with respect “ in North Korea (Lester Holt, NBC)
“Tell that to Otto Warmbier’s parents.. see what they say to you Lester” (Me, Eric Bolling) https://t.co/9UMbiGXd4p
— Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) January 23, 2018
Lester Holt is now acting as a propagandist for North Korea.https://t.co/ZzNYkoNVtC
— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) January 23, 2018
#FakeNews This is a totally staged event period!! Good try @LesterHoltNBC pic.twitter.com/SXIE2L2ZtZ
— Wendy Wilson (@WendyWi71272576) January 22, 2018
Watch a major news anchor play stooge for an insane despot —-> NBC’s Lester Holt reports from North Korea, says the dictatorial regime treated him ‘with respect’ https://t.co/zKfKvcIeNk via @theblaze
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) January 23, 2018
You are being nothing more than a propagandist for a regime that starves, enslaves and murders its citizens. Bravo, @LesterHoltNBC.
— Stephen (@Mouse_About) January 23, 2018
Gee @LesterHoltNBC, how else would you expect to be treated by a comrade? Can’t wait to see you and Kim Jong Un in upcoming selfies.
— Randy Connor (@randyconnor54) January 23, 2018
NoKo would kiss anybody’s foot that would badmouth our president. So NoKo would love Lester Holt and Hanoi Jane.
— Jan (@Jan26475074) January 23, 2018
And, perhaps most colorfully:
Did @LesterHoltNBC just admit that he is friendly with a hostile foreign country? One that has been threatening to attack us and our allies with Thermonuclear weapons? @DHSgov @fbi I hope these two organizations ram a magnifying glass up this foreign agents rectum! #MyMediaSpin
— Bryan Miles (@bmiles2000) January 23, 2018
Watch above, via NBC.
[image via screengrab]
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