MSNBC and CNN right wing political commentator Hugh Hewitt is under fire for making an offensive “joke” about two popular Democrats. On the same day many transgender people are hurting in the wake of the Supreme Court allowing President Donald Trump to ban them from the U.S. Military, Hewitt turned the word transgender into a verb, and a slur.
Hewitt attacked former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden and newly-sworn-in U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday during his radio show, “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a wonderful person,” Hewitt said, smugly. Media Matters reported on Hewitt’s remarks. “Sparkling with youthful energy, unmoved by her inexperience, confident in her lack of knowledge, and completely charismatic.”
“I would love to talk to her,” he continued. “Any — just a long extended conversation where the word salad doesn’t hold up. It wilts in the heat,” he said, attacking, and falsely suggesting she cannot deliver salient thoughts.
“Not hardball, just keep talking. She’s just wonderful. She’s — she’s — she’s my favorite person in America,” he said, all the while mocking the Democratic Member of Congress who will sit on two powerful House committees.
“Joe Biden has actually gone through the time machine and transgendered into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Hewitt then said. “This was Joe Biden — she’s going to fill the Biden gap. The Biden gap concerned me. Some day Joe will leave the public stage and we will not have people who will say outlandish things. But now the Biden gap is filled.”
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Hewitt offered a half-hearted apology via Twitter Tuesday evening, linking to the Media Matters report.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Jeremy Barr reports MSNBC is refusing to comment.
On social media there was palpable outrage, directed both at Hewitt and MSNBC, where he remains a paid commentator.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license