MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry gave a speech at Cornell University earlier this week during which she said she hoped Trayvon Martin “whooped the sh*t out of George Zimmerman” before his death.
Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, was shot and killed by Zimmerman in early 2012. Zimmerman went to trial, saying he acted in self defense, and a Florida jury acquitted him of all charges.
Harris-Perry made the comments Feb. 23 at the university’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Lecture. Mediate reports her comments were entitled “We Can’t Breathe: The Continuing Consequences of Inequality.”
A portion of Harris-Perry’s remarks were uploaded to YouTube shortly afterward by The Cornell Review.
The conservative student newspaper called the host’s comments a “shame and an embarrassment” to the school.