During a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace entered flirty text messages allegedly sent to her by CNN panelist and Vanderbilt professor Michael Eric Dyson into the congressional record.
The exchange followed Dyson’s public criticism of Mace on an August CNN segment, where he accused her of parroting “white supremacist language” due to her mispronunciation of Vice President Kamala Harris’ name.
Mace defended herself by pointing to various public figures, including Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, who have also mispronounced Harris’ name, calling the outrage “fake.” She further highlighted Dyson’s inconsistency, reading texts where he had complimented her appearance and sent a kiss emoji after his public criticism.
Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace entered apparent flirty text messages into Congress’ record on Thursday during a hearing, claiming they were sent to her by CNN panelist Michael Eric Dyson who had publicly criticized her during a show.
During a segment of “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” on Aug. 15, Dyson, a Vanderbilt University professor, had ripped into the lawmaker over her pronunciation of Vice President Kamala Harris’s first name. At the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s hearing Thursday, Mace criticized Democrats for their outrage over mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris’ name, citing party figures who have been reported to have done so.
“My colleagues across the aisle said that those that can not pronounce Kamala’s name correctly are elementary aged children. I would like to enter into the record an article by Newsweek saying Bill Clinton pronounces Kamala Harris name wrong during [his] DNC speech,” Mace said.
“Bill Clinton along with Al Sharpton, rapper Lil John — let’s not forget that Joe Biden can’t say her name right, neither can Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor,” Mace continued. “And this morning on ‘Morning Joe,’ Joan Baez called her a camel. So I don’t want to hear it. It’s fake outrage.”
The lawmaker then continued as she held up alleged screenshots of text messages sent to her from Dyson, stating he had called her “gorgeous” after claiming she parroted white supremacist language.
“I would like to also enter into the record a screenshot of a text message I received from the esteemed professor from Vanderbilt Michael Eric Dyson after my CNN interview, begged me for photos. In this text, he says, after calling me racist on CNN, ‘shh don’t tell anybody, we look good together.’ And sent me a kissy emoji,” Mace said.
“The guy says I’m gorgeous in all these photos. I don’t think he’s that bent out of shape on how anyone pronounces Kamala,” Mace said. “And if we’re going to have that standard, you gotta hold it to both sides, not just one or the other.”
During the Aug. 15 CNN show, Dyson stated Mace was being disrespectful to Harris by “saying you will call her anything you want,” claiming the behavior was connected to the “history and legacy of white disregard for the humanity of black people.”
Mace previously engaged with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in March for “shaming” her while having a tense exchange over her political choices as a rape victim.
Mace’s office and CNN did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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