MSNBC host Joy Reid has apologized for falsely accusing a Trump supporter of calling a 14-year-old Hispanic-American boy a “dirty Mexican” and saying he would be among the first to be deported.
Reid falsely wrote about La Liberte to her hundreds of thousands of followers, ““He showed up to a rally to defend immigrants. … She showed up too, in her MAGA hat, and screamed, “You are going to be the first deported” … ” dirty Mexican!” He is 14 years old. She is an adult. Make the picture black and white and it could be the 1950s and the desegregation of a school. Hate is real, y’all. It hasn’t even really gone away.”
MSNBC host Joy Reid.
Reid smeared the Trump supporter, 64-year-old Roslyn La Liberte of Woodland Hills, California, in three places online: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Reid’s smear of La Liberte, in response to a request to ‘put her on blast’, ruined La Liberte’s life and business as Reid and liberal Blue Check Mark Twitter celebrities led an online lynch mob that doxxed, memed, hashtagged and harassed La Liberte starting with a malicious tweet on June 28 from a 17-year-old March for Our Lives and all things progressive and anti-Trump activist, Alan Vargas.
La Liberte had attended a Simi Valley City Council meeting to voice her opposition to California’s sanctuary state policies harboring illegal aliens from deportation by the federal government. She is part of a group of Trump supporters in California who travel to government meetings to make their voices heard.
La Liberte was photographed by the Ventura County Star in an unflattering animated pose during a debate with attendees of the meeting. In the foreground was 14-year-old Joseph Luevanos who was there to speak in support of the sanctuary policies. Young Joseph’s mother was with him.
Several day later on June 28 Vargas, a bullying teen activist in the mold of David Hogg, posted the photo of La Liberte and Luevanos with a made up caption that implied La Liberte had called Luevanos a “dirty Mexican” and said other horrible things to the boy. Vargas told people to put the woman in the photo “on blast”.
Vargas deleted the tweet earlier Tuesday, but has–for the time being–left the humblebrag tweet on Reid retweeting him.
https://twitter.com/TheAlanvargas/status/1012816835895390208
And they did. Media personalities Joy Reid, Soledad O’ Brien, Ana Navarro and Toure Neblett, as well as several Hollywood actresses, all spread the false smear of La Liberte to their hundreds of thousands of followers.
A sample of the memes attacking, smearing and doxxing La Liberte:
Reid retweeted the Vargas tweet and then posted her own attacks on La Liberte on her official Facebook and Instagram accounts on Saturday.
Monday night Reid posted a terse apology to La Liberte and young Joseph on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram:
“It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph.” Reid linked to the Fox 11 LA report from Friday in which both La Liberte and Luevanos said their discussion was “civil” and La Liberte denied saying anything disrespectful to Joesph.
The apology tweet has stayed the top of Reid’s Twitter page, below a pinned tweet, as she has not posted or replied since the apology was posted at 7:23 p.m. EDT Monday.
It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph. https://t.co/J8vZsCwAvs
— Emo Desperado (@JoyAnnReid) July 2, 2018
Video and excerpt of Fox 11 LA report published Friday night.
A photo taken by the Ventura County Star that’s been making the social media rounds has become twisted as it churns its way through the internet. Activists have been spinning it in different directions. Some have even alerted companies doing business with Rosalyn La Liberte’s contracting company that they should boycott her firm. In the photo she LOOKS like she’s verbally attacking a 14-year old boy. Now, the two people in the photo are speaking out!
La Liberte tells FOX 11 News, “I’m not an evil person. I’m a mother of five… a Grandma of four.”
But, in a tweeted-photo that’s raced through social media like a wildfire that’s exactly how it looks. Looks can be deceiving. La Liberte doesn’t live in Simi Valley but went to this past week’s city council meeting because she says she’s passionate about the Federal Government’s fight against California’s sanctuary state status.
14-year old Joseph Luevanos was there to take the other side.
During a recess in the meeting the teenager says he started a conversation with the woman to try and understand her feelings, “but, I felt like she was still trying to keep it civil which I appreciate .”
Both he and his mom say there were rude people saying ugly things like the teen would be the first to be deported. For the record, he was born and raised in this part of Southern California and he didn’t like that. But, he says, what you see in the photo isn’t a confrontation but a conversation
La Liberte says, I never said anything disparaging. I never did.”
End excerpt. Please read complete Fox 11 LA report at this link.
Fox 11 video report:
Rosalyn La Liberte and Joseph Luevanos, screen images via Fox 11 LA.
Arthur Schaper, a fellow pro-Trump activist in California with La Liberte, has led a campaign to defend her from the smears by Reid, Vargas and the others.
Schaper is calling for MSNBC to fire Reid and has posted MSNBC contact info here.
Previous TGP reports:
