MTV News culture writer Ira Madison III levied a racially charged attack against Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R., Ala.) toddler granddaughter on Tuesday morning in a series of now-deleted tweets.
Sessions had brought four of his young Asian-American grandchildren to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding the Alabama senator's nomination to become attorney general under President-elect Donald Trump.
During opening remarks, Madison posted a photo of Sessions holding one of his granddaughters and demanded that he "return the Asian baby" to Toys "R" Us.
Madison then called the little girl a prop used by Sessions to beat back accusations of racism.
Madison deleted the tweets after he was met with widespread backlash across the social media platform. CNN reporter Jake Tapper directed the MTV writer to "find some humanity."
Disgusting tweet. The little girl is his granddaughter. Delete your account and find some humanity. https://t.co/8OZUtY5FcA
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 10, 2017
Madison then went on to defend the attacks as a means to illustrate Sessions' alleged "history of racism."
I often tell jokes, but seeing as bringing up Sessions' history of racial hatred of Asians is seen as an attack on his grandchild, I deleted
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 10, 2017
Sessions' daughter, Ruth Sessions Walk, is married to John Walk, an Asian-American. The couple has four children, all of whom sat in the audience Tuesday.