It seems like NBC is in hot water for a lot of things lately. First, their top news anchor Brian Williams received backlash and was forced to step down after he was caught fabricating his Iraq reports, and now, another correspondent is being forced to apologize after he claimed that American Sniper Chris Kyle was a "racist."
It was on January 29 during MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Middle East reporter Ayman Mohyeldin made that incriminating statement, the Washington Examiner said.
"Some of what people have described as his racist tendencies towards Iraqis and Muslims when he was going on some of these, you know, killing sprees in Iraq on assignment," Mohyeldin said of Kyle, who gained worldwide fame due to Clint Eastwood's movie about his life, American Sniper.
Even the show host Joe Scarborough was surprised by the statement and changed the subject, "All right, when we come back, Ayman is going to kick around Santa Claus."
More than 20 retired generals and admirals were taken aback by the description and promptly wrote a letter to Comcast, which owns NBC, demanding that Mohyeldin apologize for his statement.
"Mohyeldin's statements were an inexcusable slap in the face to the widow of Chris Kyle and to all those in the armed forces who continue to serve our country in harm's way," they wrote in the letter.
They defended Kyle as a hero and should not be used as a false talking point by a "smug journalist." They called NBC News' continued refusal to acknowledge and apologize for Mohyeldin's malicious remarks about Kyle as "disappointing as it is shocking."
At the same time, they said that what Mohyeldin said was "vile hate" speech and added that the Kyle family, veterans everywhere, and the public at large deserve nothing more from NBC News than "a strong, unequivocal public statement" that would make up for what the reporter said.
