Michael Eric Dyson fiercely denounced the suggestion that he flirted with congresswoman Nancy Mace after a CNN interview last month in which she alleged that he called her racist.
That interview featuring the South Carolina lawmaker and the Vanderbilt professor made headlines after Mace repeatedly mispronounced Vice President Kamala Harris’ name during the segment and refused to correct herself. Dyson never called her racist on air but explained why her behavior was problematic.
“When you disrespect Kamala Harris by saying you will call her whatever you want, I know you don’t intend it to be that way, that’s the history and legacy of white disregard for the humanity of Black people,” Dyson told Mace on the interview.
During a congressional hearing on Thursday, Mace showed her fellow lawmakers a screenshot of a text Dyson sent her that featured a photo the pair took after the CNN interview, portraying it as flirtatious.
“In this text, he says, after calling me racist on CNN, ‘Don’t tell anybody we look good together’ and sent me a kissy emoji,” the South Carolina lawmaker said in Thursday’s hearing. “Then 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. And if we’re going to have that standard, you got to hold it to both sides, not just one or the one or the other.”6
Dyson posted a response on Instagram, fuming at Mace’s conduct during the hearing. He read off the full text exchange with Mace and clarified that he was joking about how united they looked in the pictures they took after the CNN interview, given their very different political stances.
“I ain’t hittin’ on Nancy Mace. This is a woman trying to exploit a situation, trying to pretend as if I was trying to hit on her,” Dyson said. “What you’re trying to do is generate nastiness and viciousness because you’re so bitter because you got your butt whipped that night because I told you then that what you’re doing is wrong,” he said of Mace.
He also condemned Mace’s characterization of his intentions behind the text as “vicious,” “misleading,” and, ultimately, “racist.”
“Your attempt is sad and sorry, but you’re bigoted and racist attempt will not succeed,” Dyson remarked. “There was no attempt to do anything but to be gracious to you, but you have proved to be what I said you weren’t – a vicious, white supremacist racist who is incapable of accepting the generosity and kindness of a Black man. You are a sorry, sick soul.”
While some people online regarded the text as flirtatious, others sided with Dyson’s defense.
“This is very much a strategic framing of that interaction for her to do this very thing. Why didn’t she share the entire exchange?” one person said.
“She’s clearly trying to extend her 15 minutes of infamy from the TV show. It’s time to let it go,” another comment read.
