In a Thursday report, Yahoo News reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee had posted a darkened photo of Colin Kaepernick in a fundraiser email.
For Yahoo, Hunter Walker wrote that the photo of Kaepernick used in the GOP email was “a picture of Kaepernick that appeared noticeably altered to make his skin darker.” Walker added that “many” consider the darkening to be “racist.”
"In an email to Yahoo News NRCC Communications Director Chris Pack insisted, 'The photo was not darkened.'" https://t.co/s7oMnc1Uag pic.twitter.com/deCyT05vnX
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) July 11, 2019
Walker went on to quote an anonymous Democrat operative who said that the email photo was “disgusting,” adding that the “House Republicans are running on racism, plain and simple.”
🔊🔊 Rep. @CedricRichmond, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, just called out the @NRCC’s Kaepernick ad for exactly what it is:
"Classic race baiting by Republicans."https://t.co/QjMYHXpPvM
— DCCC (@dccc) July 11, 2019
The purportedly darkened photo of Kaepernick is included with a fundraising message reading, “Who do you stand with? Donald Trump and the Betsy Ross flag or anti-American flag Colin Kaepernick?”
After the story went live, NRCC communications director Chris Pack released a statement to Yahoo saying that the photo was not darkened.
Walker initially published his story with a headline that said the photo was darkened, as if it were a fact. He also published his story with no comment elicited from the NRCC. But later the Yahoo piece was updated with Chris Pack’s comment and a new headline reading, “Colin Kaepernick’s skin appears darkened in Republican campaign fundraiser ad.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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