MSNBC’s Joy Reid Refers to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as ‘Uncle Clarence’
MSNBC host Joy Reid found herself at the center of controversy on Wednesday after she called Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas “Uncle Clarence” — a comment deemed by some to be racist.
During an MSNBC discussion with network colleagues Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace on whether the election results will be taken to the Supreme Court, Reid said, “It’s not exactly clear that we can trust Amy Coney Barrett and Kavanaugh and these others not to be just like Bill Barr.”
“So I think what scares people is that if he decides to do something that legally makes no sense,” she said, before asking, “If somehow they manage to stumble into the Supreme Court, do any of you guys trust Uncle Clarence and Amy Coney Barrett and those guys to actually follow the letter of the law?”
“No, I mean it is a completely politicized Supreme Court and you can’t just trust that they’ll do the right thing,” Reid concluded, noting, however, “Now, so far the courts have actually been pretty good.”
Reid’s comments were quickly criticized and branded as “derogatory,” “racist,” and “despicable.”
“Uncle Clarence?” Are you kidding me?? https://t.co/7V5db56BBa
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 4, 2020
I wrote last month that our speech police are dirty cops, who claim there are rules, but there aren’t rules. Joy Reid will get away with her racist slur against Clarence Thomas, because the purpose of the rules on race are not to prevent racism, but to trip up the “bad guys”
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) November 4, 2020
So because you think Thomas is awful, Joy Reid’s bigotry (of which there is a long history) is okay. Got it.
— Jonathan H. Adler (@jadler1969) November 4, 2020
Good god…. https://t.co/4ONH1Rcb8q
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 4, 2020
Notice her “woke” @MSNBC colleagues said nothing.#LiberalBigot#PresidentialElection https://t.co/aWEGqHKA7M
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) November 4, 2020
Joy Reid calls Justice Clarence Thomas “Uncle Clarence” – a clear reference to the derogatory epithet “Uncle Tom.” How is this sort of stuff acceptable to anyone anywhere? (This is a rhetorical question – we know the reason.) https://t.co/llQVODUgex
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) November 4, 2020
Reid is no stranger to controversy, having previously faced calls for her dismissal in 2018 after old homophobic posts on her blog resurfaced.
Reid denied that she had written the posts and claimed to have been hacked — a claim that did not receive much support from the public.
