MSNBC host Katy Tur said Monday that Founding Father and first president George Washington, a famous Virginian, was a native New Yorker and "New York's big papa."
"You know, it is George Washington Day here in New York, unlike the rest of the country, because George Washington, native son of New York," she told MSNBC's Ari Melber during her sign-off in a moment first noticed by Newsbusters.
"Big up, big New Yorker. East Coast. He was known as an East Coast one," Melber responded.
"That's right. He was New York's big papa," she agreed.
In fact, Washington was born, raised, and spent the bulk of his life in Virginia at his ancestral home of Mount Vernon. He resided in New York only briefly, during the first year of his presidency and the Revolutionary War.
Tur is correct that New York celebrates "Washington's Birthday," but is incorrect when claiming it does so "unlike the rest of the country." Washington's Birthday is the official federal holiday that is colloquially called Presidents' Day, and 14 other states celebrate Washington's Birthday alongside or instead of Presidents' Day.