Viewers of C-SPAN's Washington Journal call-in show were left shocked Monday after a racist caller referred to the show's Black and Asian guests by a racial slur.
The caller used the word after host Pedro Echevarria had already pushed back on his previous statements about journalists Ebony McMorris of American Urban Radio Networks, who is Black, and Politico's Nicholas Wu, who is Asian.
When the man tried to continue asking his racist question, Pedro Echevarria hung up on him.
Ben Pu, NBC News' Producer for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, posted a clip of the incident to Twitter.
WARNING: racist language
The man identified himself as an 83-year-old from Tennessee, and called in with a question about "liberal things" that made very little sense.
He said:
“I want to know if we can cut out some of these liberal things that are going on in America, just like on the TV now, we have two minorities."
"And I’m not against you minorities …”
It seems as though he may not have had a question at all and simply wanted to complain about non-White people existing.
Echevarria, seeming to clock the man's intent, immediately pushed back.
“Caller, that shouldn’t be a factor."
"The guests we invite to our program we did invite, so what’s your question or comment for them please?”
Things got worse from there.
The man then said:
“When I was a little boy—listen, I’m 83 years old—I was a little boy, the colored people …”
We can all probably guess what the man was about to say next, but thankfully Echevarria cut him off before we had to find out.
Both McMorris and Wu showed admirable restraint, barely reacting to the man's comments.
In a reply to Pu's tweeted clip, McMorris described how she felt in the moment.
Wu, too, shared his thoughts on the incident, praising Echevarria's swift dispatching of the racist man.
On Twitter, people were appalled by the man's language.
They praised McMorris, Wu and Echevarria for keeping their cool and not indulging the man's racism.
Here's hoping McMorris and Wu can do their jobs without having to deal with this again any time soon.
