Jim Coughlan, a Republican comptroller from Dutchess County, NY, is under fire after calling MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Parry a “damned dirty ape” via Twitter.
The disparaging remark came in response to an ad Harris-Perry recently appeared in that supported communities taking a stand to help raise children. In the ad, Harris-Perry says, “We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children: ‘Your kid is yours, and totally your responsibility.’” She adds, “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.” The message remains controversial among conservatives.
However, even the conservatives distanced themselves from Coughlan. “Jim Coughlan is toxic,” one conservative told the Daily News. “The Democrats are dying to run against him in November because they know he’s the best chance they have of keeping this seat in Democratic hands.”
Coughlan insists that his tweet wasn’t racist and that he was simply quoting a line from Planet of the Apes. The entire tweet read: “Unless you’re my wife don’t call them ‘our’ children. Keep your stinking paws off my kid, you damned dirty ape.” Coughlan claims that he didn’t know that Harris-Perry is Black. “I don’t watch MSNBC,” he told the Daily News. “I don’t know about their stories or their journalists.”
That smells awfully like a load of bullshit. Even if Coughlan somehow did not know that she is Black, as an elected official he should make it his business to do his research before he tweets to avoid things like this. Furthermore, beyond it being racially charged, it’s just plain insulting. Calling anyonea “damned dirty ape” simply because you disagree with their opinion is childish and uncalled for.
Coughlan has since suspended his Twitter account, but remains unapologetic. He is eying a Senate seat and believes that the criticisms are simply “Albany insiders who are scared of my candidacy because they know I’m not going to be a patsy in the Senate.” Sir, kindly get a grip.