Twitter Freaks Out Over Racial Skittles Tweet
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted an image of Skittles along with anti-Syrian message, and many people are taking issue with it.
Transcript
00:00 Trump Jr. posted a tweet on Monday that a lot of people are finding tasteless.
00:03 It reads, "If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you,
00:07 would you take a handful? That's our Syrian refugee problem." He also captioned
00:12 the image, "Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America
00:16 first." Many people believe that the tweet dehumanizes Syrians and reduces them to
00:20 harmful stereotypes. Journalist Jason Sparks tweets, "Tens of thousands of
00:25 Syrian children have been killed in the war. They aren't Skittles. They're
00:29 children, like yours." This story has gotten so huge that even Skittles had to
00:32 release a statement. A rep for the company had this to say, "Skittles are
00:36 candy. Refugees are people. We do not feel it's an appropriate analogy. We will
00:40 respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be
00:44 misinterpreted as marketing." It's important to know that Donald Trump Jr.
00:47 did not come up with this metaphor. It's actually been used for years by rape and
00:51 abuse victims to explain PTSD. Even if 9,999 people won't hurt you, if one will,
00:56 it's hard to trust the rest. And everyone online is weighing in, so let's take a
01:01 look at some of those tweets. Crisela Alonso says, "If I had a bowl of Skittles
01:04 and was told three of them could go to school, get educated, and cure disease, I'd
01:08 absolutely take a handful." Jezebel writer Aaron Gloria Ryan says, "If five Skittles
01:13 leave Cincinnati at 4 p.m. going 60 miles per hour and 11 Skittles leave
01:17 Philadelphia at 5 p.m. going 70 miles per hour, which Skittle is a terrorist?" In
01:21 this one from Joe Lissett, "It's the age-old saying, 'When life gives you Skittles, use
01:25 them to incite racial hatred and oversimplify a humanitarian crisis.'" For
01:30 more stories like this, go to whatstrending.com.