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Melissa Harris-Perry Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 20, 2022 32 Comments
Before MSNBC became a hate-filled cesspool, it was just a nutty one. And many moons ago, Melissa Harris-Perry floated the idea that parental rights are non-existent, that kids "belong to whole communities" in a "Lean Forward" statement. I have no idea if "Lean Forward is still a thing, because we don't do cable news in this house.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 27, 2016 26 Comments
MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry is now protesting her own show, proving once again that the only thing lower than the network's ratings is the collective IQ of their on-air talent. The New York Times reports:
Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her MSNBC Show After Pre-emptions In an unusually public flare-up, one of MSNBC’s television personalities clashed with the network on Friday in a dispute about airtime and editorial freedom and said she was refusing to host the show that bears her name this weekend.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 26, 2015 32 Comments
Discussing Paul Ryan's bid for Speaker of the House Monday, Melissa Harris-Perry made an unusual claim about the term, "hard worker." Alfonso Aguilar, Director of the conservative organization American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership said:
"But let's be fair. If there's somebody who is a hard worker when he goes to Washington, it's Paul Ryan. He not only works with Republicans but with Democrats. You know very well that I work on immigration issues, trying to get Republicans to support immigration reform. Paul Ryan is somebody who has supported immigration reform, has worked with somebody like Luis Gutierrez. Luis Gutierrez is very respectful, speaks highly of Paul Ryan, this is somebody who is trying to govern.
At which point Harris-Perry interrupted Aguilar and then proceeded to wander down a completely unhinged tangent about slavery.
"Alfonso, I feel you. But I just want to pause on one thing, because I don't disagree with you that I actually think Mr. Ryan is a great choice for this roll. I want us to be super careful when we use the language "hard worker," because, I actually keep an image of folks working in the cotton fields on my office wall because it is a reminder of what hard work looks like. So I feel you that he's a hard worker, I do, but in the context of relative privilege... and I just want to point out that when you talk about work-life balance and being a hard worker, the moms who are working, who don't have health care, we don't call them hard workers, we call them failures, we call them people who are sucking off the system."

Posted by Amy Miller on February 12, 2015 16 Comments
Remember that one time when a professional journalist called the United States Attorney General a duck, and then asked him to quack? In public? While the camera was rolling? There are no more words. Just watch: I'M SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 27, 2014 18 Comments
Melissa Harris-Perry hosted a panel on the question: "Are attacks against Wendy Davis sexist or standard political fare?" Harris-Perry gave a pretty good intro, pointing out that narrative failures are political problems for women and for men. And she did highlight that Wendy Davis' narrative is not quite as portrayed in her campaign. But were the attacks "gendered" if not outright "sexist." Watch the video below. Does it strike you, as it did me, that the panelists could not generate any visible indignation over the supposedly sexist treatment of Davis? They mouthed the words, but seemed a bit shy about it after listening to Harris-Perry's intro about the discrepancies in Davis' narrative. Davis' parenting and maternal commitment were an express part of her narrative -- when that narrative failed, it was not gendered or sexist, it just was what it was. There was no dissent among the panelists. Jonathan Capehart particularly dropped the ball by suggesting that Newt Gingrich is an example of a man leaving his first wife and kids behind who did not pay a price. But in fact, Newt has been excoriated for it and it was a damaging blow to his presidential ambitions, as I explained to Kirsten Powers. This should have been a panel that breathed "sexism" fire. That all they could muster were a few glowing embers of "sexism" tells you something right there. There doesn't appear to be any fire in the belly even at MSNBC to defend Wendy Davis' failed personal narrative. Here's the video, in two parts:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 11, 2014 18 Comments
Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC presided over an appalling segment in which panelists mocked Mitt Romney's family because of his adopted black grandchild.  She later apologized profusely. Yet for unknown reasons, Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic rushed to Perry's defense not by defending her conduct, but by attacking her critics as racist.
The Smartest Nerd in the Room: Why Melissa Harris-Perry is America's foremost public intellectual, and what she means On Saturday, Melissa Harris-Perry apologized on air for segment that made light of the Romney clan's adoption of a young black boy. On Sunday, Mitt Romney accepted Harris-Perry's "heartfelt" apology, noting, "I've made plenty of mistakes myself." I've watched the offending segment several times now. I can see how a white parent who'd adopted a black child (or vice versa) would find the segment flip and offensive. It would not have surprised me if those concerned about adoption, equality, and racism voiced some protest about the segment. Instead what we got was week of invective driven mostly by a conservative movement with less lofty concerns.

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 05, 2014 28 Comments
On this morning's “Fox News Sunday” program with host Chris Wallace, Mitt Romney took the high road and accepted an apology from Melissa Harris-Perry. (Video after the jump). https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/419833877838848000 This came just one day after the MSNBC host apologized again, this time on air, for a recent segment on her program that devolved into ridicule of a photo that featured Governor Romney holding his adopted grandson, Kieran, who is black. "Governor, this must be hurtful and I know you're a classy guy and you don't want to get into it," Wallace prefaced, "but I've got to ask you - honestly, from the heart, how did you, and quite frankly how did Mrs. Romney feel when you heard that your little baby grandson Kieran was the target for political ridicule?" "Well, first let me just note Chris, that we love this little guy a great deal.  He was an answer to prayer, and we love that he is part of our family. He is part of our family," Romney said. "That being said, I recognize that people make mistakes," Romney continued. "And the folks at MSNBC made a big mistake. And they’ve apologized for it. And that’s all you can ask for. I am going to move on from that. I am sure they want to move on from it. Look, I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself. And they’ve apologized for this. You know, I think we can go on from there." Wallace tried to press further:  "You tend to speak from the head. I know Mrs. Romney tends to speak from the heart. I suspect she took this somewhat more personally. The idea that political discourse would include going after a little baby." Romney continued to respond with grace and class, while pointing out that children are beyond the line as political targets.

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 04, 2014 63 Comments
It's been a long week for Melissa Harris-Perry. The MSNBC host took a lot of heat for this segment on her show last weekend in which she moderated a panel of comedians in offering a caption to a Romney family photo that featured Governor Romney holding his adopted grandson, Kieran, who is black. The segment devolved into senseless mocking - as Professor Jacobson previously noted, "To the race-obsessed minds at MSNBC, the fact that Mitt Romney’s son and daughter-in-law adopted a black child is something to mock." Mitt Romney family Christmas photo 2013 Backlash ensued and Melissa Harris-Perry later apologized online in a series of tweets. On her program today, Harris-Perry again made an apology for that segment, while fighting back tears.  Below is an excerpt from that apology.  Video is after the jump.
Now given my own family history, I identify with that picture and I intended to say positive and celebratory things about it, but whatever the intent was, the reality is that the segment proceeded in a way that was offensive. And showing the photo in that context, that segment, was poor judgment. So without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family. Adults who enter into public life implicitly consent to having less privacy. But their families, and especially their children, should not be treated callously or thoughtlessly. My intention was not malicious, but I broke the ground rule that families are off-limits, and for that I am sorry. Also, allow me to apologize to other families formed through transracial adoption, because I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule. On this program we are dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families. It is one of our core principles, and I am reminded that when we are doing so, it must always be with the utmost respect.
(h/t to Newsbusters for the transcript; and to TheRightScoop for staying on the story)

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 01, 2014 40 Comments
Melissa Harris-Perry is apologizing profusely for the panel discussion over which she presided, dedicated to mocking the image above. https://twitter.com/MHarrisPerry/status/418008066651455488 https://twitter.com/MHarrisPerry/status/418010148301320192 https://twitter.com/MHarrisPerry/status/418010599662960640 I have no idea what is in Harris-Perry's heart, but she has a long history of making racial issues out of non-racial events:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 30, 2013 75 Comments

Well, just about everything. A young child holding her baby brother's hand.  A mother holding her children. The mother happens to be Mitt Romney's daughter-in-law. To the race-obsessed minds at MSNBC, the fact that Mitt Romney's son and daughter-in-law adopted a black child is something to mock. The focus...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 11, 2013 11 Comments

Melissa Harris-Perry's quote will live on in infamy: “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents” Doubling down didn't help. https://twitter.com/jtLOL/status/321800969786621954 We know what Lady Thatcher would have tweeted at Harris-Perry: Margaret Thatcher responds to Melissa Harris-Perry: twitter.com/AmityShlaes/st…— Whitney Pitcher (@whitneypitcher) April...

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