Rupert Murdoch asks if Carson, ‘a real black President,’ could help fix racial divide; Fox News becomes target

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch touched off a firestorm Wednesday night when he implied that President Barack Obama isn’t a real black president.

He did it in a tweet that was meant to praise Republican presidential contender Ben Carson.

Backlash was immediate and vicious. Amy Davidson, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, tweeted:

And WPIX-TV reporter Myles Miller really let loose:

Five minutes after his original tweet, Murdoch offered this explanation — but it didn’t seem to help.

He was referring to a piece titled, “The Paradox of the First Black President.” But even that didn’t seem to help. Juan Thompson, host of BRIC TV’s “Strike Back,” tweeted:

But the fireworks really took off later that night when former Obama green jobs czar, Van Jones, appeared on “CNN Tonight.” Calling the tweet “completely outrageous and disgusting,” Jones claimed that Fox News “has done more to undermine President Obama than any news outlet in history against any president.”

CNN host, Don Lemon, reminded Jones that he was quoted in the New York magazine article as saying, “I understood the tightrope from the beginning. He’s the president of all people. But sometimes it felt like he was president of everyone except black people.“

Jones distinguished the article, which he thought was a fair appraisal of the president, from Murdoch’s statement, which he called “divide and conquer nonsense,” meant to promote Carson.

“If Rupert Murdoch cares about black people,” he said, “he should tell the people at Fox News he does so, because you can’t tell by watching Fox News.”

“Fox News has been an enemy of African-American struggles since it started,” Jones said.

Watch the clip, via CNN. Update follows video.

UPDATE: Murdoch tweeted his apologies Thursday morning for any implication that Obama isn’t a black president.

Although the apology wasn’t enough for his detractors, Murdoch still received some support.

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