Mississippi Coast senator under fire for Chinese fly balloon meme that mocks Asian people
A local politician is under fire after tweeting a meme mocking the Asian American accent while trying to insult President Joe Biden’s response to a suspect Chinese spy balloon that flew over part of the U.S. last week.
On Saturday, Mississippi State Sen. Joel R. Carter, Jr., a Republican, posted an image that had been edited with the addition of red handwritten text that said “Weather Barroon” and “Totary NOT For Spying.”
A U.S. fighter aircraft shot down that day off the coast of South Carolina..
Historian Kevin Kruse replied to the tweet, “I get it, it’s funny because it’s so pathetically racist.” His reply has since been seen 114,500 times.
“I haven’t heard this sort of crap since I was in middle school,” replied actress Rosalind Chao.
MSNBC anchor Katie Phang responded to the tweet the following day, asking Carter, “ Does the ‘R’ in your name stand for ‘Racist’?”
Where the original tweet received 448 likes, responses like Phang’s, Kruse’s and Chao’s had the support — and views — of thousands.
Carter, a Gulfport resident, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The Coast lawmaker told WLOX-TV on Monday he has no intention of deleting the tweet but was advised to not comment to the media.
Carter has more than 1,400 followers on Twitter.
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 1:50 PM.
