Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ’60 Minutes’ Interview Sparks Social Media Outrage

Topline

An appearance by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on 60 Minutes, the place she’ll be interviewed by correspondent Lesley Stahl, has spawned outrage on social media with some journalists and liberal celebrities questioning this system’s choice to host the controversial Congress member, who has promoted quite a few baseless conspiracy theories—together with her perception that faculty shootings have been faked —in recent times.

Key Details

Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger—a conservative critic of former President Donald Trump—said it was “insane” Greene could be featured.

New York Occasions journalist Nicole Hannah-Jones called the interview “the kind of normalizing that mainstream media did of segregationists” and linked to an article condemning Greene and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) for utilizing racist rhetoric throughout marketing campaign occasions.

Political commentator and former ESPN journalist Jemele Hill said “There’s nothing incorrect with controversial interviewing and profiling, even despicable individuals,” however famous this system’s framing was “s–t” and stated the present was “platforming silly.”

NBC reporter Ben Collins tweeted: “Oh my god what are we doing right here.”

former West Wing actor Bradley Whitford compared Greene to Adolf Hitler, “who wasn’t afraid to share his opinions,” including it was “too unhealthy” Stahl was unable to interview Hitler to ask questions “about his vegetarianism and his love of canines.”

Political commentator Elie Mystal critic the 60 Minutes announcement for referring to Greene by her nickname “MTG,” suggesting it was a “cute moniker” that “simply reveals you are right here to launder her rep and complicit.”

Contra

New York Occasions reporter Jonathan Swan stated there was nothing inappropriate concerning the interview, suggesting famed 60 Minutes interviewer Mike Wallace “would not have thought twice about giving her airtime” however would “have carried out a tricky interview.”

Essential Quotes

in a tweets Saturday morning, Greene wrote (misspelling Lesley Stahl’s identify), “it was an honor to spend a number of days with the legendary icon Leslie Stahl,” including she thought “Leslie is a trailblazer for girls in journalism” although they each “could disagree on some points”

Chief Critic

David Hogg, a gun management activist who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty taking pictures, critic the interview and stated he seems to be ahead to Stahl’s questions “about why she thinks faculty shootings are pretend and why she’s supported QAnon.” Greene—who falsely claimed the Stoneman Douglas taking pictures to be pretend—famously confronted the teenaged Hogg outdoors of Congress in 2019, earlier than she was a member, calling him a “coward.”

KeyBackground

Greene has been criticized in recent times for selling a variety of QAnon conspiracy theories earlier than she took workplace. Greene was faraway from a Home committee in 2021 after she questioned the occasions of 9/11, endorsing solutions the 2018 taking pictures at Stoneman Douglas was fabricated and referred to as to execute Democratic leaders in Congress. She additionally falsely claimed that John F. Kennedy Jr.—who died in a 1999 airplane crash—was killed by Hillary Clinton. Twitter most not too long ago restricted Greene’s account after she shared a picture referring to a “Trans Day of Vengeance” in response to the gender id of the suspect who carried out a mass taking pictures in Nashville final month. Her account was beforehand completely banned final yr after it was flagged for having posted misinformation about Covid-19, although it was later restored after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform.

Additional Studying

‘Slap In The Face’: White Home Condemns Marjorie Taylor Greene For Saying She ‘Would Have Received’ Jan. 6 Riots (Forbes)

Twitter Briefly Restricts Marjorie Taylor Greene After She Tweets About ‘Trans Day Of Vengeance’ (Forbes)