MSNBC deleted a tweet accusing the “rightwing” of disliking biracial families after conservatives accused the left-leaning news organization of making wildly unfair generalizations.
“Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family,” MSNBC tweeted Wednesday, referring to an upcoming Super Bowl ad.
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Conservatives took offense, and many began tweeting pictures of their multiracial families. “Self-unaware overload,” wrote Twitchy founder Michelle Malkin.
MSNBC quickly backtracked and deleted the offending tweet. The social media account apologized, tweeting that it didn’t reflect the network’s position.
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“We are deleting the earlier offensive tweet. It does not reflect msnbc’s position and we apologize,” @msnbc tweeted.
It also 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.”
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“The Cheerios tweet from @msnbc was dumb, offensive and we’ve taken it down,” MSNBC.com Executive Editor Richard Wolffe tweeted in response to the controversy. “That’s not who we are at msnbc.”