As Twitchy reported earlier, the original tweet from New York Times COVID-19 reporter Apoorva Mandavilli about the “racist roots” of the Wuhan lab leak theory was deleted because she determined that “the reactions are … ridiculous.” We’d been assured it was racist to call COVID-19 the Wuhan coronavirus (by the same media that up to that point had been calling it the Wuhan coronavirus), but we didn’t know that the “suddenly” plausible theory that the virus had leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology had “racist roots.”
nyt covid-19 reporter instills perfect confidence in the paper’s ability to actually report the issue. pic.twitter.com/D8JJLAFCK9
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 26, 2021
The lab leak hypothesis itself might not be racist, but it has racist roots. So, yeah, it’s racist.
Not shocked since literally everything else is
— Curious 👀 Truth 🐈 Cat 🇺🇸 (@CoastalWindy) May 26, 2021
This NYT reporter is calling people racist for looking into the possible origins of a virus that killed 3.5M+ people, and then thinks that it's the *reaction* that demonstrates how broken our discourse is. pic.twitter.com/Pjms6KdZrs
— 🦖 pragmatometer ㋬ (@pragmatometer) May 26, 2021
in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea for the NYT to shitcan the 45-year veteran science and public health reporter because some snot-nosed high schoolers didn’t like his attitude.
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 26, 2021
i think my favorite thing about dismissing the lab theory as “racist” is that it asks us instead to believe the virus started in a filthy chinese wet market filled with bats and pangolin stomaches or whatever.
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 26, 2021
“it may have started in a lab.”
“wow racist. it probably started in a wet market because they eat bat wings and other weird shit over there."
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 26, 2021
@nytimes, a former newspaper.
— Eric Goes to Hell (@EricgoestoHell1) May 26, 2021
Recommended
So much for following the science
— Cary Vanderlip (@CVanderlip) May 26, 2021
Maybe it wasn’t just TDS that made the media utterly dismiss the notion that the virus from Wuhan came from the virus lab in Wuhan.
— Ibrahim Banks 🤴🏽🥂 (@itsIBRAHIMBANKS) May 26, 2021
The NYT is a two trick pony; either Orange Man Bad or Racist!
— Robert Young (@rkyoung70) May 26, 2021
Seeing racism where there isn't any is actual racism. And ignorance.
— Deb Lee 🌟 (@KhiriKhan) May 26, 2021
Someone needs to explain to these people that “Chinese” isn’t a race.
— tommy_2_thumbs 👍🏻👌🏻🇺🇸 (@bronanbrobrien) May 26, 2021
“Ugh, I hate deleting tweets, but the reactions are… ridiculous,” she explained. “Lots of clown emojis (is that code beyond just calling me a clown), allusions to CCP and also: is ‘fronting corporate interests’ the new ‘pharma shill’ insult?”
https://twitter.com/apoorva_nyc/status/1397569869676224513
It could be code for calling you a clown, or just calling you out on a clown tweet — it’s ambiguous.
The clown emoji is code for "journalism."
— The Unmasked Avenger! (@Crapplefratz) May 26, 2021
If it merited a deletion… perhaps some self-reflection might be warranted.
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) May 26, 2021
Oh my god: I didn't realize what her job is.
The NYT's COVID reporter is saying we should stop talking about the lab leak theory — *even if it's how COVID entered humans *– because that theory (unlike, I guess, the wet market theory) is racist.
Who cares what happened: NYT. pic.twitter.com/NAtI9N2mJx
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 26, 2021
"Making the Science of Covid Clearer"https://t.co/G9fDfmnTXJ pic.twitter.com/jGlDOgJqIl
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) May 26, 2021
Teen Vogue or NY Times? You be the judge
— Ed Maguire (@eemaguire) May 26, 2021
It appears that activists who are posing as journalists say some really crazy stuff. This is certainly not balanced and honest journalism. It's more like a personal opinion, which should be kept to oneself rather than sharing it on social media.
— Rob Denton (@RobbieVanGogh) May 26, 2021
What does investigating the CCP have to do with racism?
— Carey Haug (@haug_carey) May 26, 2021
Wait 'till she finds out it's a hypothesis and not a theory…
— Nick Charles (@KayfabeLarper) May 26, 2021
This is what happens after decades of hiring the children of affluent people, who can afford to intern at newspapers and magazines and not get paid, and let that be the only qualifier for their positions. They bring their phony altruism with them into the industry. Embarrassing.
— Jon Draper (@iamjondraper) May 26, 2021
Completely embarrassing.
I legit don’t trust a single word these outlets publish, about virtually anything. Why would you? They lie and obfuscate about seemingly every single, possible subject of import.
The more they run and hide, the more obvious it is what’s true.
— Colin Moriarty (@notaxation) May 26, 2021
Why double down on this now as Fauci and numerous publications and researchers are walking it back? You’re making it even more difficult to be informed after authorities have jerked us back and forth on whether lab escape is plausible or not
— tea ess (@tea__ess) May 26, 2021
Deleting it means one less instance of you feeding the public blatant misinformation, so that's good I guess
— mattparlmer 🌷 (@mattparlmer) May 26, 2021
Also,
🤡
— mattparlmer 🌷 (@mattparlmer) May 26, 2021
The only ridiculous aspect of this is what you tweeted. 🤡
— Coach Matthew Smith (@coach_smith11) May 26, 2021
I’m so old that I remember when people went into journalism as an exercise in truth-seeking and accountability, not social activism. Seems those classes are no longer available.
— Rachael Larimore (@RachaelBL) May 26, 2021
What if that lab leak theory is the truth or turns out to be the truth after proper investigation??
— The Departed (@GireeshMandhale) May 26, 2021
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
— itaintAndy (@ItaintAndy) May 26, 2021
“Is that code beyond just calling me a clown” — unbelievable
— Ambassador Franklin Sherman (@Amb_Sherman) May 26, 2021
just own the stupid tweet.
— Patrick Patel (@HotRodBlago30) May 26, 2021
Explain to me how it's racist if it leaked from the lab.
— Zombie Donald Trump (@bunnyslaughter7) May 26, 2021
The reactions were ridiculous because the tweet was ridiculous.
— CK (@CK20456380) May 26, 2021
What's ridiculous is you asserting that a legitimate line of investigation has "racist roots." Evidence leads where it leads.
— Brian (@bhg70) May 26, 2021
Deleting that tweet was the right thing to do, since it basically suggested that you as the NYT covid reporter won't be able to report on what could be the biggest story about the pandemic honestly.
— Sky Palma (@DeadStateTweets) May 26, 2021
She’s doubled-down, though, tweeting, “A theory can have racist roots and still gather reasonable supporters along the way. Doesn’t make the roots any less racist or the theory any more convincing, though.”
https://twitter.com/apoorva_nyc/status/1397575139127173123
Mandavilli has since deleted all of her tweets, including the one explaining why she’d deleted her first tweet — because the responses were ridiculous. In its place is a new tweet with the real explanation of why she deleted her tweets:
I deleted my earlier tweets about the origins of the pandemic because they were badly phrased. The origin of the pandemic is an important line of reporting that my colleagues are covering aggressively.
— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc) May 26, 2021
They were badly phrased and called into question the Times’ reporting on the origin of the pandemic.
Someone got a phone call. https://t.co/RjBb44cqyq
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 26, 2021
— Stephe96 (@Stephe96) May 26, 2021
— DropBear (@davebrooker322) May 26, 2021
Badly phrased😂😂😂😂
— dowthebow (@dowthebow) May 26, 2021
"I meant to phrase it with words that mean completely different things!"
— Luke 🥶 (@LukeLuk3Luke) May 26, 2021
For those wondering what "badly phrased" means, this link will be helpful. It basically means, "I called anyone who thinks the Wuhan lab might have been involved racist." https://t.co/OwfaGxkjcE
— Gerry (@GerryDales) May 26, 2021
Badly phrased? Another journalist !
— 48™️ (@fadde) May 26, 2021
🤡
— E n z o k (@enzok) May 26, 2021
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
— spite supremacist (@spiteposting) May 26, 2021
If your flip-flopping today doesn't make you understand how you are being brainwashed to constantly think in a certain way, I don't know what will
— Razor (@CryptoDrav) May 26, 2021
Honestly, I love Twitter because it keeps journalists and other establishment types marginally more honest… or at least vaguely self aware…
— TY (@truthy_ty) May 26, 2021
based on this case, i would say it doesnt do that at all.
— TakemetoDavos (@G7Summitleader) May 26, 2021
So you mean to say conflating racism with criticism of a shady, serially dishonest, and genocidal government was a bad idea? I agree. Criticism of the CCP is not criticism of the Chinese people. I cannot believe this even needs to be said.
— Stephen R (@PhtevenRoth94) May 26, 2021
Why delete your tweets? That’s what you felt about the issue at the time. There’s a date. Looks like all you wanted is to not be accountable.
— Emma Wright (@Piper_O_Brien) May 26, 2021
They were clown tweets, bro.
Related:
NYT reporter deletes tweet on the ‘racist roots’ of the Wuhan lab-leak investigation [screenshot] https://t.co/xukU9EGGpq
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 26, 2021
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