Right Wing Just Can’t Say Cheerio to Bigotry

In May 2013, Cheerios ran a commercial featuring a family with a black father, white mother, and cute little girl. That prompted a spew of racist tweets.

Last month, Cheerios previewed a new commercial featuring the same family. On 29 January, someone at MSNBC tweeted: ”Maybe the right-wing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/biracial family.”

A couple of hours later, MSNBC tweeted: “Earlier, this account tweeted an offensive line about the new Cheerios ad. We deeply regret it. It does not reflect the position of msnbc.”

Nevertheless, the next day Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, complained that MSNBC had “denigrated and demeaned Americans -- especially conservative and Republican Americans,” and ordered his staff not to appear on the network. MSNBC issued another apology.

On Sunday, the commercial appeared during the Super Bowl. It prompted some racist tweets, but more supportive ones.

However, a patriotic commercial for Coca-Cola got much more vitriol, including bigoted complaints from former Republican Congressman Allen West, radio hosts Glenn Beck and Todd Starnes, and others from “the right-wing.”

As of today, Reince Priebus, defender of “denigrated and demeaned Americans,” has not been heard from. Meanwhile, despite his effort to spin away the awkward fact, “the right-wing” continues to perpetuate its own stereotype.