Jim Rosica
FOX News announced that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum would appear on the network later Wednesday as it distanced itself from a controversial statement made by Republican candidate Ron DeSantis on an earlier program.
After that appearance, host Sandra Smith did a follow-up segment on “America’s Newsroom.”
“A little while ago we had Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for governor in Florida, on for an interview to discuss the Florida election,” she said.
“During the interview, he made what some are calling an inappropriate comment about his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum.”
DeSantis, a Congressman from Ponte Vedra Beach, had said, “To make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction, let’s build off the success we’ve had (with) Gov. (Rick) Scott.
“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases, and bankrupting the state. That’s not going to work; that’s not going to be good for Florida.” (A previous story is here.)
DeSantis is white; Gillum is black. Comparing African Americans to apes or monkeys usually is considered disparaging.
Sandra Smith went on, saying a DeSantis campaign spokesman “has since clarified his comment.”
In a statement, Stephen Lawson said DeSantis “was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses.
“To characterize it as anything else is absurd. Florida’s economy has been on the move for the last eight years and the last thing we need is a far-left Democrat trying to stop our success.”
Sandra Smith then added: “We do not condone this language and wanted to make our viewers aware that he has since clarified his statement.”
She also announced that Gillum is scheduled to be interviewed by host Shepard Smith at 3 p.m.
5 comments
Simon
August 29, 2018 at 2:11 pm
Thank-you for including the full quote. That helps clarify this situation immensely. I can’t believe how easily offended everyone gets these days. I am thankful that I am not a politician and everyone isn’t looking for every possible place I could mess up and accidentally have a word choice that could be taken out of context to be something completely different from intended. Its no wonder politicians don’t tend to talk of anything of substance most of the time. I’d watch every word I said as well if this type of scrutiny was going to be applied.
Chris
August 29, 2018 at 6:42 pm
Never heard this term as common language. I watched the whole interview. Wish Putnam won, It was a dog whistle. Yes, people do not want to be called monkeys, broads or fruity. Deal with it.
Monty Boa
August 29, 2018 at 11:54 pm
The phrase “don’t monkey it up” is used among car repair mechanics in the South. It refers to avoiding botching the repair work as a black mechanic would.
It is inherently, and explicitly, racist.
Whatgorilla
August 30, 2018 at 10:06 am
He also called a successful black man, “articulate”, which was dumb.
Charlene Valladares
August 30, 2018 at 8:17 pm
If I was DeSantis I would have asked her what she was referring too. She showed her bias by automatically accusing him of a racially comment. It because of her that this blew up and she gave life to it. She heard the word (monkey) and because the opponent is African American or like I like to say American of African decent she accused him of using a racial slur. Sandra why did your mind go there? Me thinks that maybe you unmasked yourself.
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