National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch has lashed out at Twitter users who have been accusing her of anti-Semitism, citing one of her own tweets from 2010 in which she jokes about the firing of former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez.
Sanchez was fired in September 2010, one day after calling The Daily Show host Jon Stewart a “bigot” and mocking the suggestion that Jews are a minority—knowing that Stewart is Jewish. The following day, Loesch then responded on Twitter that she bet Sanchez “was fired by a Jew.”
In recent weeks, Loesch has been appearing on various media outlets to defend gun ownership after the mass shooting of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The tragedy has given rise to a movement for gun control, mainly led by student survivors, and the adversarial NRA spokeswoman has defended the right to gun ownership in public debates.
Although the 2010 tweet appears to have resurfaced several days ago, it was only when comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted about the comment that Loesch responded furiously to those on her feed and attempted to contextualize it.
Dana, is there context here bc this looks super duper no bones about it antisemitic and that can’t be true, can it?? @nra https://t.co/M8hGYt9knt
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 26, 2018
Refusing to apologize, Loesch insisted that the 2010 tweet was not a defense of Sanchez but a desire for a kind of “poetic justice.”
Helpful flashback context for your attempt to deflect from my credible points made today. Thanx for giving me another opportunity to remind people of the disgraceful bigots in our media. Feel free to RT @brofax unless you endorse this antisemitic trash. https://t.co/Nm03Efhln7 pic.twitter.com/JTzYXUy6IZ
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 22, 2018
And no, I’m not apologizing for hoping an garbage person antisemite was fired by someone whom he loathed. If you all want to defend that, knock yourselves out.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 22, 2018
Just a reminder. Still not apologizing for hoping a garbage bigot was fired by someone against whom he was bigoted in an epic form of poetic justice. Defend his nastiness all you want.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 26, 2018
From there, the NRA spokeswoman replied to 44 Twitter users over the course of an hour who were replying to her old tweet and accused them of anti-Semitism while quoting her response.
“So you support Sanchez’s antisemitism. Got it,” Loesch replied in almost every instance.
So you support Sanchez’s antisemitism. Got it. https://t.co/R9R7NaPTWK
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 26, 2018
So you support Sanchez’s antisemitism. Got it. https://t.co/R9R7NaPTWK
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 26, 2018
So you support Sanchez’s antisemitism. Got it. https://t.co/R9R7NaPTWK
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 26, 2018
Still, despite Loesch’s attempt to go on the offense, for some users the excuse and context was lacking.
“Her context is to minimize firing of a bigot to a revenge act,” one individual wrote, “and to post an antisemitic libel about Jews having power.”
Silverman, who blocked and the unblocked Loesch, reflected jokingly on the excuse that the comment “was out of context and that’s the true context.”
Well this is the new me. And I think, if I may offer help with your funny joke, that when you yourself refer to a Jewish person you call them a Jewish person and not “a Jew” bc that night come off harsh from a non-Jew. (It’s one of those things) Be well, Dana https://t.co/SdZkk9XvnS
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 26, 2018
Hey y’all @DLoesch was making a joke about Rick Sanchez saying the Jews run the media. It was out of context and that’s the true context. Peace https://t.co/HRDCjRbDfX
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 26, 2018
