Popular Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted on Saturday that he will no longer appear on MSNBC until they apologize on air for the lack of speaking time that he was given during this week’s primary debate.
Despite polling higher than many of the other candidates, Yang was only given six minutes and 48 seconds to speak at the Atlanta debate — far less than any other candidate.
I’m not running for president because I fantasized about being president; I’m running for president because, like many of you here . . . I’m a parent & a patriot and I have seen the future that we are leaving for our kids & it is not something I am willing to accept. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XNZpTMDfnY
— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 21, 2019
Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg were all given over 12 minutes of speaking time.
Was asked to appear on @msnbc this weekend – and told them that I’d be happy to after they apologize on-air, discuss and include our campaign consistent with our polling, and allow surrogates from our campaign as they do other candidates’. They think we need them. We don’t.
— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 23, 2019
“Was asked to appear on @msnbc this weekend – and told them that I’d be happy to after they apologize on-air, discuss and include our campaign consistent with our polling, and allow surrogates from our campaign as they do other candidates’. They think we need them. We don’t,” Yang tweeted to his million followers.
The whole time we have gotten stronger. This is actually bad for MSNBC. It will only get worse after I make the next debates and keep rising in the polls. The people are smarter than MSNBC would like to think.
— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 23, 2019
Yang also pointed out that the network has been omitting him from their graphics — and once even used the wrong name when talking about him.
“They’ve omitted me from their graphics 12+ times, called me John Yang on air, and given me a fraction of the speaking time over 2 debates despite my polling higher than other candidates on stage. At some point you have to call it,” Yang added. “The whole time we have gotten stronger. This is actually bad for MSNBC. It will only get worse after I make the next debates and keep rising in the polls. The people are smarter than MSNBC would like to think.”
Yang has been speaking out against the bias since the debate happened, using the hashtag “#MSNBCFearsYang.”
#MSNBCFearsYang because we can turn seconds into substance. #YangGang pic.twitter.com/5we0BnWc2O
— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 22, 2019