Source: The Washington Post / Getty
According to an unnamed source who spoke with The New York Post, Omarosa Manigault caused a serious stir after appearing at the National Association of Black Journalist’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
Attendees were outraged to find that the White House liaison was scheduled to speak on a panel surrounding police brutality and state sanctioned violence.
“The majority there don’t want her involved. It’s heavy drama — even the moderator is refusing. Everyone sees it as extremely offensive,” the source said in an interview with the outlet.
Several notable journalists were invited to appear alongside Manigault, including New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb, Sandra Sterling, Alton Sterling‘s aunt, and Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile. Hannah-Jones was scheduled to moderate the discussion, but pulled out of the panel along with Cobb, prompting the organization to invite Ed Gordon from Bounce TV to step in as a last-minute host.
Cobb spoke with The Post, to explain that there were a variety of factor’s in addition to Manigault’s presence that caused him to walk away.
“It was that she was added at the eleventh hour and it was unclear whether we would be able to discuss substantive issues regarding the administration and its policing policies. Also, the panel was very disorganized, and basic things like format were not clear,” he said.
Former Bernie Sanders strategist Symone Sanders expressed her grievances with the NABJ’s choice to host Manigault on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/SymoneDSanders/status/895762500184141826
She later mentioned that her tweet prompted a discussion between herself and a former NABJ president.
https://twitter.com/SymoneDSanders/status/896061238957924352
SOURCE: New York Post
UPDATE 8/11/17 10:37 p.m.
Sooo…Omarosa’s appearance at the NABJ conference did not go well. It was a steaming hot mess.
Anyone who pulled out of the conference missed a real show in New Orleans. Video of Omarosa shows her fighting with BET journalist Ed Gordon, accusing him of going off-topic to come after her.
She and Ed Gordon faced off as he kept asking her about Donald Trump’s view as presidet and her opinion of them. Omarosa got mad about the line of questioning, because she thought it had nothing to do with topic of losing loved ones to violence.
Philando Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, and Alton Sterling’s aunt, Sandra Sterling were also part of the panel. Given the fact that each of those men died due to police brutality, which is something the president recently endorsed, it was fair of Ed to ask.
Omarosa didn’t see it that way, and the panel discussion quickly spiraled into an on-stage argument.
The New York Daily News reports that the whole thing ended with Omarosa storming off-stage while Ed called after her, ““I’ll see y’all at the White House Christmas party in December.”
She wasn’t on-stage for long, and it seemed like no one was excited to see her. Audience members turned their backs on her in protest and some of the other panelists were taking shots at her.
What a train wreck. We’ll be watching this several more times.
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We Don’t Have Time For This: Omarosa Says Blacks Aren’t Committed To Working With Trump
