Former MSNBC host Touré Neblett responded to Twitter commenters mocking him for confusing Ben Carson with Herman Cain by saying all black conservatives look alike.
The tweet: The backlash began when Neblett on Monday addressed critics who countered his assertion that “there are no Black people who are famous for their intellect who support Trump.”
- “People said Ben Carson!” Neblett, who is black, wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Fact check: Ben Carson isn’t voting for Trump in 2020 because he’s dead because of Trump’s incompetence. So, yeah.”
Carson, 69, serves as President Donald Trump’s secretary of housing and urban development.
The reaction: Twitter commenters pointed out that Nebett, a staunch anti-racist and devotee of the Black Lives Matter movement, was confusing Carson with Cain, a former Republican presidential candidate and fellow black man who died in July, age 74, after contracting COVID-19.
“‘They all look alike,'” Fifth Column podcast host Kmele Foster said sarcastically on Tuesday about Nebett’s blunder.
Another user replied by referencing a viral 2014 moment in which a Los Angeles entertainment reporter mixed up black actors Samuel L. Jackson and Laurence Fishburne.
“Ben Carson is one of the world’s leading pediatric neurosurgeons and you’re the moron who thought him and Herman Cain were the same guy. Take a seat, Toure,” said radio host Ken Webster.
Touré’s retort: “EXCUSE ME! I misspoke. Ben Carson is of course very much alive. It’s *Herman Cain* who died from Trump’s incompetence. Not Ben Carson. I apologize for that mistake. Ben Carson’s *reputation* died because of his support in spite of Trump’s incompetence but Ben’s body lives on,” Neblett tweeted on Monday in response to his critics.
But in the face of continued mockery, the “Black Minds Matter” newsletter author refused to take the “L,” averring that while his Cain-Carson mix-up might have been “dumb,” backing Trump was dumber.
And when one Twitter user asked Nebett if “all conservative black people look alike” to him, he had was defiant: “Yes,” he tweeted.
