Fox News contributor David Bossie, who served as President Donald Trump’s deputy campaign manager and is now an outside adviser, has been suspended from the cable news network for two weeks.
Fox News made the decision after Bossie supposedly said an “obviously offensive” during a heated debate over racial “dog whistles” coming from the Trump administration.
As The Daily Beast reports, the moment happened during a segment on “Fox & Friends Weekend” where Bossie was on a panel with Democratic strategist Joel Payne, an African American, who was describing supposed race-baiting and dog-whistling by the Trump administration.
Payne opined, “You don’t have to be a golden retriever to hear all the dog whistles coming out of the White House these days and from my friend David here.”
A visibly angry Bossie fired back in self-defense during the fast back and forth, and said bluntly, “You’re out of your cotton-picking mind.”
Payne reacted harshly and took immediate offense to Bosie’s use of a common phrase to be deliberately racist. The timing of the comment justified the Democratic strategist’s reaction: “I have some relatives who picked cotton, and I’m not going to sit back and let you attack me on TV like that.”
As Fox News said through a statement, “David Bossie’s comments today were deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments of Fox News and we do not in any way condone them.”
But as others have noted, the once innocuous phrase was essentially a PG version of a more vulgar “mother****ing” or “g**d*mned” but has become less popular for obvious reasons. There are examples of the phrase “cotton-picking” being considered racist, such as during a recent story from the NBA.
Watch the heated segment here:
Here is the apology David Bossie offered on Twitter: “During a heated segment on Fox & Friends today, I should have chosen my words more carefully and never used the offensive phrase that I did. I apologize to Joel Payne, Fox News and its viewers.”
During a heated segment on Fox & Friends today, I should have chosen my words more carefully and never used the offensive phrase that I did. I apologize to Joel Payne, Fox News and its viewers.
— David Bossie (@David_Bossie) June 24, 2018
Did Bossie deserve the two-week suspension? We report, you decide.
Bossie is not the first Fox News contributor to be suspended for inappropriate comments in recent months. (RELATED: Fox News Suspends Guest Thomas McInerney After Comments About John McCain’s Torture).
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