Reporters and liberal activists spread a misleading clip of an Alabama Republican this week, falsely claiming he made a racist joke about a colleague.
During a congressional hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response to the disaster in Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Jenniffer González-Colón yielded back her time to the chair, who then called on Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.).
"Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Long, good to have you here," Rogers said to FEMA administrator Brock Long. "It’s refreshing to finally have a witness that doesn’t have an accent before this committee."
Rogers was making a joke in reference to Long, a North Carolina native who has a similar Southern drawl to himself. But when the video went viral after being posted by Politico, Twitter users implied Rogers was mocking González, who was not a witness.
Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers last week, after Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico speaks at a hearing: "It's refreshing to finally have a witness who doesn't have an accent." (via C-SPAN) https://t.co/u2GD7QwgSI pic.twitter.com/cuSDNbXe0T
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 22, 2018
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, right after Puerto Rico’s @RepJenniffer speaks: "It’s refreshing to finally have a witness who doesn't have an accent." https://t.co/y9cnLUQT6s
— . (@cristianafarias) March 21, 2018
I’m confused. Does Rep. Rogers not have an accent? This type of bigotry can not be tolerated in our government. https://t.co/kg5wnvDQjD
— Sunny Hostin (@sunny) March 22, 2018
Lord have mercy... https://t.co/RriYQdWycT
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) March 22, 2018
Why is @RepMikeRogersAL saying the following, "It's refreshing to finally have a witness that doesn't have an accent before this committee," right after @RepJenniffer of #PuertoRico speaks. And Rogers has a F-ING ACCENT! #NoMames pic.twitter.com/3LfCzdLPuh
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) March 20, 2018
González herself took to Twitter to call out the Latino Rebels account and say she was not the target of the joke. The account doubled down.
What @RepMikeRogersAL was clearly referring to was @FEMA_Brock ’s enunciation, which like https://t.co/Y0I9RDTh5G’, is considered by many people to be a Southern drawl. It was a light-hearted bit of humor and I appreciated it. Rep. Rogers was not being negative about any accent
— Jenniffer González (@RepJenniffer) March 20, 2018
he didn't say that in the video but thanks for responding
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) March 20, 2018
Eventually Politico deleted the video. "A video of Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), mistakenly published on March 16, has been removed because his remarks about a witness’ accent were not in reference to Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón, as the headline had suggested," the link now reads.