On Wednesday evening, a post from the official MSNBC Twitter account suggested that the conservative Americans are racist. The tweet said, “Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family.”
The tweet was referring to a new Cheerios ad called “Gracie” that features a biracial family.
MSNBC’s post sparked outrage almost immediately. Here are some reactions from Twitter users:
The hashtag #MyRightWingBiracialFamily, promoted largely by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, soon began to trend on Twitter. Conservatives flooded the social media site with photos of their own biracial families.
A few hours (and a lot of angry tweets) after the original post, MSNBC tweeted an apology.
This is not the first time MSNBC has come under fire for questionable comments regarding biracial families. Last month, a panel on the network mocked Mitt Romney for having a black grandson.