Melania Trump Gets Dragged on Twitter for Juneteenth Video: ‘Birthers Gonna Birther’
First Lady Melania Trump took heavy and vehement backlash from Twitter blue-checks over her video commemoration of Juneteenth, including from Meena Harris — niece of Sen. Kamala Harris — who summed up much of the criticism by writing “Birthers gonna birther.”
On Friday morning, Mrs. Trump posted a video commemorating the day on which the end of slavery in the United States is commemorated, writing “Today we celebrate #Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S. In honor of today, I would like to share the story “All Different Now” by Angela Johnson, which sheds a light on the first Juneteenth through the eyes of a young girl.”
Today we celebrate #Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S. In honor of today, I would like to share the story “All Different Now” by Angela Johnson, which sheds a light on the first Juneteenth through the eyes of a young girl. pic.twitter.com/ZG9zoup4yG
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) June 19, 2020
Many verified Twitter users alternately slammed Mrs. Trump as a “racist” and a “birther,” or mocked the staging of the video. In the former category, the criticism got vehement, and included Harris and celebrities like Yvette Nicole Brown, actor Rufus Sewell, comic Dean Obeidallah, Daily Beast editor Molly Jong-Fast, West Wing and Get Out alum Bradley Whitford, TBS host Samantha Bee, Star Jones, and others.
Birthers gonna birther
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) June 19, 2020
Nope. Sit this out. Sit it ALL out. #Birther #TheTHIRD “lady”
— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) June 19, 2020
Hey guys quiet down the birther is here to lecture us about the importance of Juneteenth.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 19, 2020
This ignorant bitch right here…I mean…I can’t with her tone-deaf idiocy. https://t.co/orzLbssPWS
— Vivicca A. Whitsett (@2tall4u2) June 19, 2020
Apparently The Trump’s don’t get we have long memories and access to Google. Melania was Trump’s Birther Bride https://t.co/yQKM4pFSEk
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) June 19, 2020
Remember when you got famous on a racist lie about the president of the United States? We do.
— Molly Jong-Fast? (@MollyJongFast) June 19, 2020
Disgusting try, @FLOTUS, but you’re a racist birther. https://t.co/jLcpWz0VsW
— Bradley Whitford (@BradleyWhitford) June 19, 2020
Fuck off, you racist birther.
— Jerry James Stone (@jerryjamesstone) June 19, 2020
Would that it had been “All Different Now.” “Slavery” ended. But, Jim Crow, Black Codes, Lynchings, the KKK, Disenfranchisement, Gerrymandering, White Supremacy, Discriminatory Hiring Practices, Racial Profiling, Inferior Education & BIRTHERISM followed…3rd Lady. https://t.co/KBl0Tbs3Gh
— Star Jones (@StarJonesEsq) June 19, 2020
oh fuck off https://t.co/fUMvoKpvXS
— Imani Gandy ☄️?? (@AngryBlackLady) June 19, 2020
Full disclosure; that trip to Ghana was to find Obama’s birth certificate. https://t.co/aTACi62Rlh
— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) June 19, 2020
Then there was the latter category, which included riffs on the “horror movie” staging and cinematography of the clip.
This looks like the opening of a horror movie…. slow push in… she smiles.. then… her face turns into a bleeding skull…..”CHRISTMAS” https://t.co/6Zq19mOXYU
— Hal Sparks (@HalSparks) June 19, 2020
Who designed this video??! First Lady, surrounded my golden chandeliers at impossible distance from the camera and the viewer (and reality) https://t.co/8VyjcnuYCx
— Mariana Peña Cater (@marianitapc) June 19, 2020
This looks to me like how you might shoot an Adam’s family sequel where Wednesday is 1st Lady. https://t.co/gGaqy2ow3l
— Marcus Simon (@marcussimon) June 19, 2020
And still others who managed both.
Thanks, Lady Antebellum https://t.co/xTtiBXK5Qt
— Lance Gould (@lancegould) June 19, 2020
#Birther Bratz doll is so frickin’ shameless and weird. https://t.co/QOBxP52WSZ
— Maysoon (@maysoonzayid) June 19, 2020
What a bizarre backdrop for the topic. (And I had to zoom in to see if her lips were really moving.) https://t.co/tsdli6ZPei pic.twitter.com/gFeRBlFbnJ
— John Aravosis ?????️? (@aravosis) June 19, 2020
The “birther” charge against Melania Trump stems from an April 20, 2011 appearance on Joy Behar’s then-HLN show The Joy Behar Show, during which Melania offered a stubborn defense of her husband’s racist smear against then-President Barack Obama.
Behar repeatedly told Mrs. Trump that Obama had already produced a birth certificate, and Trump repeatedly demanded further proof, telling Behar “It’s not only Donald who wants to see it, it’s American people who voted for him and who didn’t vote for him. They want to see that.”
Watch the clip above via HLN.
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