Fox Nation Host Tomi Lahren has come under heavy fire from netizens after she reportedly posted a tweet with a screengrab of a New Year's Eve video by Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren with the caption "Am I seeing this correctly?" Lahren drew a circle around a decoration in the background of the screenshot and suggested that it was a figurine of an African American eating a watermelon.
Fox News should fire Tomi Lahren now! Of course they won’t though!https://t.co/fy9YH30mpG
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 5, 2019
The notorious tweet was soon removed by its author, but not before netizens made a screengrab of their own, preserving the deleted tweet. Many twitterians called for Lahren's resignation from the Fox network in light of her attempt to accuse Warren of racism, despite the fact that she withdrew her suggestion.
— Ahpook (@____Ahpook____) January 5, 2019
Fire racist Tomi Lauren
— Eileen Segall (@EastofMiddle) January 4, 2019
Some netizens went as far as to accuse the network itself of racism for not having fired the host, whose post angered some social media users.
Of course @FoxNews stands with her, they are a far-right propaganda machine, as such, their propaganda includes racism. Their present advertisers are too obviously supportive of same.
— Damaged Industries (@mdamaged) January 4, 2019
Reason why black folks should never watch fox station full of 😈 incarnates, haters of humanity
— sunday DeAnthony (@tonyokpo) January 5, 2019
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But that logic found little support among other social media users, who couldn't comprehend how Lahren or Fox could be considered racist for suspecting racist tendencies among others.
How exactly is it racist to point out that Elizabeth Warren owns racist art? So calling out racism is now racist, if the racist you’re calling out is a Democrat?
— Doctor Dungus (@DoctorDungus) January 6, 2019
How is the tweet racist, but Warren displaying it in her home isn't? More hypocrisy from liberals.
— Kenyon Ledford (@KenyonLedford) January 6, 2019
Many twitterians stood up in support of Lahren and even agreed with her apparent suggestion that the senator indeed had a racist figurine in the background.
Everyone calling for the Fox news reporter must love Mambo and Little Black Sambo because that's what this is on top of Warran's kitchen cabinet. Good for her for calling it out. Shame on you guys for not seeing the truth of the matter. This is definitely a racist item.
— Valerie McGilvrey (@Skipease) January 5, 2019
Are you telling me the only racist knickknack here was provided by Lahren? And to imply it's on Warren's shelf she created a FAKE NEWS ITEM?
— Debonics (@DeborahLenoreS1) January 5, 2019
The figurine, which Lahren supposedly saw in Senator Warren's house, is an iconic image of an African-American closely associated with slavery. The image of an African-American consuming simple fruit was spread by supporters of slavery to prove that this part of the US population did not require much to be happy and thus weren't in need of freedom.
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Senator Warren herself is known for her harsh stance against big corporations and strong position on controlling banks. She recently announced her intention to run for president in 2020.
