Michael Eric Dyson apologizes for calling Trump supporters ‘maggots’
Dyson also used the phrase “mediocre, measly-mouthed snowflake”
Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson apologized for using the term “maggots” in reference to Trump supporters on MSNBC.
During a broadcast segment Wednesday, Dyson said “In speaking about the maggots — I’m sorry — the MAGA,” while denouncing recent criticisms of critical race theory.
He apologized on Friday afternoon during coverage of Derek Chauvin’s sentencing.
“Let me apologize on this program. I was trying to be cute and clever when I was talking about MAGA, therefore ‘MAGAts,’ not ‘maggots,’” Dyson said.
He added that he didn’t expect his comment to offend white audiences and has since been hit with a barrage of hate comments.
“I didn’t anticipate that, you know, brothers and sisters who are white would hear it as that. So I deeply and profoundly apologize for that,” Dyson said. “But I have been hit with an onslaught of death threats and being called the N-word out of White rage for a mistake I made, for which I am willing to apologize certainly.”
Dyson also used the phrase “mediocre, measly-mouthed snowflake” during the broadcast Wednesday.
“We have stood by to see mediocre, measly-mouthed snowflake white men who are incapable of taking critique, who are willing to dole out infamous repudiations of the humanity of the other,” Dyson said. “And yet they call us snowflakes, and they are the biggest flakes of snow to hit the Earth.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded to Dyson’s comments Friday by comparing him to former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and Birmingham politician and segregationist Bull Conner.
“Read what he says about race, and ask yourself if he sounds any different from Bull Conner or David Duke. Only the colors have changed,” Carlson said.
During Wednesday’s segment, Dyson elaborated that critical race theory is a study of systems, not individuals.
“All critical race theory is saying as a theory of law is that it’s not about individual acts of bigotry, or bias, or racism. It is a systemic and institutional network that must be somehow discerned and dismantled,” Dyson said.
“What they’re saying is, let’s not point the finger at individual white brothers and sisters and say, Aha, we caught you,” he added. “Let’s look at a system that produces and reproduces the pathology of bigotry.”
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