More bad headlines over Good’s racist video

June 26, 2020

Margaret Good needs to apologize immediately for allowing this racist video to be circulated and celebrated by her staff.

In case you missed it…

Florida Democrat draws ire from black-owned newspaper over ‘racist’ video featuring Nicki Minaj song
Washington Examiner
Naomi Lim
June 26, 2020
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/florida-democrat-draws-ire-from-black-owned-newspaper-over-racist-video-featuring-nicki-minaj-song

A Florida Democrat has angered a black-owned newspaper after a staffer shared a campaign-style video on social media that the paper ripped as “racist.”

Florida state Rep. Margaret Good is running in November to unseat Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan in Florida’s 16th Congressional District, anchored by Sarasota and Bradenton. But Good, 43, enraged Tempo News’s editorial board this week for continuing to stand by legislative aide Elizabeth Wilson, who shared the video on Twitter last month. Wilson’s post was also “liked” by some of her colleagues from Good’s office and campaign.

The video, made by an unaffiliated campaign supporter, is a 40-second compilation of footage of Good in the Florida Capitol, at events, speaking with voters, and giving media interviews. What’s controversial about the clip is that it’s overlaid with Nicki Minaj’s song “Yikes.”

The rapper upset the family of civil rights icon Rosa Parks in February when she released the track and included the lyric, “All you bitches Rosa Parks, uh-oh, get your ass up.” Parks was a central figure in Alabama’s Montgomery bus boycott during the 1950s. Minaj has defended her rhymes.

The Tempo News this week blasted the music as “racist and misogynistic,” particularly Minaj’s use of the N-word, which can be heard in the video.

“The Tempo News has a responsibility to its readership too [sic] address the issue, especially with the killing of George Floyd,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. “Although Rep. Good didn’t post or like her aide [sic] actions; her aide should resign or be fired from her position.”

In its headline, the paper called on Good to apologize for the video as well.

Good didn’t respond to either the Tempo News’s or the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.

Good’s tensions with the Tempo News coincide with lawmakers and candidates nationwide grappling with roiled race relations after Floyd’s death on Memorial Day. Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

Florida’s 16th Congressional District leans Republican, but Good has a chance against the 13-year incumbent if presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden performs well at the top of the ticket in her state. In polls, Biden beats President Trump by an average of 6.8 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics, and 7.2 points, according to FiveThirtyEight. Florida’s 29 electoral votes are crucial to Trump’s reelection bid.