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Sharpton Eulogizes Cokie Roberts With Picture of Christiane Amanpour

MSNBC host has historical issues with facts, names, spelling

Al Sharpton Wikimedia Commons
September 17, 2019

MSNBC PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton mourned the passing of journalist Cokie Roberts on Tuesday by sending out a tweet with pictures of the still-living journalist Christiane Amanpour.

Sharpton tweeted, "Saddened to hear of the passing of legendary journalist Cookie [sic] Roberts. Here is a Easter Sunday special we did in 2011. May she Rest In Peace," along with several pictures of Amanpour. Aside from the obvious misidentification of the deceased, Sharpton misspelled Roberts's name.

Critics were quick to point out Sharpton's errors, and he deleted the tweet.

Roberts worked for decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio and ABC News. She died on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., after a long battle with breast cancer.

Amanpour is the chief international anchor for CNN and hosts Amanpour & Company on PBS. She lives in London.

Sharpton, who began his career as a civil rights activist, has a history of mispronouncing, misspelling, and misidentifying people, places, and things while on TV.

In August 2018, he misspelled legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin's most famous lyric in her 1967 hit "Respect." Sharpton was criticizing President Donald Trump for his treatment of former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, whom the president called a "dog" on Twitter.

"So in the words of my late friend Aretha Franklin, show some R-E-S-P-I-C-T, and the next time you get a black woman and a beagle confused, remember this: I got you," Sharpton said in response to Trump's insult.

The word "respect" is not spelled that way in Franklin's hit.

Throughout his many years as a TV anchor, Sharpton has produced a long and fabled history of gaffes and mistakes.