An MSNBC guest and college professor accused White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer of racism on Wednesday, basing his assertion on a falsified version of something Spicer actually said.
Jason Johnson, a tenured journalism professor at Morgan State University and politics editor for TheRoot.com, denounced Spicer for his heated confrontation Tuesday with black journalist April Ryan, an American Urban Radio Networks correspondent.
"I think it was offensive, I think it was inappropriate, I think it was racist, and I think it was sexist," Johnson said.
"We also have to remember that this is the same Sean Spicer who was caught on camera when he was being annoyed by a local woman at a local mall and said, 'You're lucky that you still get to be in this country,' and he said this to a Latina woman," Johnson continued. "So it's not like this is completely bizarre to think this is the case."
Johnson, who has equated Russia's interference in the 2016 election to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was alluding to an incident earlier this month when Spicer was approached and berated at an Apple store by a liberal activist. But Spicer never said what Johnson accused him of saying.
In a Medium post after the fact, the activist in question, Shree Chauhan, did accuse Spicer of saying something similar.
"His words were clear: 'Such a great country that allows you to be here,'" she wrote. "That is racism and it is an implied threat."
But video of the incident reveals she took Spicer out of context.
"Such a great country that allows you to be here like this," Spicer actually said, around the 17-second mark.
Asking @PressSec questions in Apple Store since he doesn't like the press. https://t.co/l493z2gG4x
— Shree ✊🏾❤️🇺🇸 (@shreec) March 11, 2017
Spicer appeared to be implying that the United States is a "great country" for allowing Chauhan, who was accusing Spicer of working for a "fascist," to exercise free speech and act as she was–not that she was lucky to be in the country at all.
Spicer said as much two days later at a White House briefing, addressing the incident directly.
"It's a free country and the beauty of it is that [people] can act how they want," he said.
Johnson was wrong on another point: Chauchan is Indian-American, not Latina.