Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch posted a controversial tweet that has garnered outrage on social media.Â
Wednesday evening Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter to promote his favorite presidential candidate, Ben Carson. Murdoch, who owns the multi-billion dollar media empire News Corp., which is the parent company of Fox News, was promoting Carson’s appearance later that evening on “The Kelly File.”
But Murdoch’s tweet drew outrage and cries of racism, as it seemed to suggest President Barack Obama is not really Black. It also fed into the birtherism and “otherness” Fox News has propagated about the nation’s first Black president.
“Ben and Candy Carson terrific,” Murdoch wrote, mentioning the former pediatric neurosurgeon’s wife. “What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.”
Media outlets and Twitter users exploded.
“You be the judge,” Slate’s Elliot Hannon wrote, adding that Murdoch “apparently isn’t totally convinced that Barack Obama is the ‘real’ President.”
CNN Money reported Murdoch’s “tweet ricocheted around the web and was widely denounced.”
“Murdoch’s use of the word ‘real’ flabbergasted many online onlookers, some of whom concluded that the media mogul was questioning Obama’s race and identity,” CNN’s media reporter Brian Stelter observed.
 On Twitter, reactions ranged from outraged to disgusted.
UPDATE: 10.08.2015 8:30 AM EDT –
Â
Image by David Shankbone via Flickr and a CC license