MSNBC host Al Sharpton railed against CNN’s John King Wednesday night, not because he gave a report that later proved to be false, but because he described a supposed suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing as a “dark-skinned male.”
CNN’s report Tuesday that a suspect was in custody later turned out to be inaccurate, but what the MSNBC host had a problem with was when John King said, “I was told by one of these sources, who is a law enforcement official, that this was a dark-skinned male.”
Mr. Sharpton quoted the Washington Post’s Eric Wemple, agreeing that Mr. King’s comment “borders on inflammatory.”
“Dark-skinned male?” Sharpton asked in his opening monologue. “Coded, offensive language.”
“These comments are very offensive,” he continued. “They have no place in our discourse … What King’s words did is to make every dark-skinned male in Boston a suspect, and that’s shameful.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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