Television pundit Ana Navarro is being accused of racism after she posted a tweet on Friday that included a joke considered derogatory toward Asians.
‘Me so vaccinated!’ Navarro wrote in a tweet that was deleted soon afterwards. Last week, Navarro expressed glee that Piers Morgan left his morning show Good Morning Britain after he was accused of racism for his views on Meghan Markle.
The tweet was also posted just days after a white gunman fatally shot eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at several spas in Atlanta.
On Thursday, journalist Alexi McCammond resigned days after being named editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue after staffers at the magazine protested tweets mocking Asians and gays that she posted as a teenager 10 years ago.
Ana Navarro (seen above on January 19), a pundit who appears frequently on CNN and ABC's The View, posted a tweet on Friday that was slammed by some as racist toward Asians
‘Me so vaccinated!’ Navarro wrote in a tweet that was deleted soon afterwards. Navarro, the CNN commentator and occasional co-panelist on The View, was reacting to a tweet on Friday from a fan who called on ABC to bring her back onto the daytime talk show
Navarro, the CNN commentator and occasional co-panelist on The View, was reacting to a tweet on Friday from a fan who called on ABC to bring her back onto the daytime talk show.
‘See! This is another reason to #BringBackAna @ananavarro She collaborates with “Uncle Luke” @unclelukreal1,’ tweeted Alesha K. Russey.
‘Take Care of Your “Vaccine Business” People. Get it! Get it! #VaccinesSaveLives #TheView #COVID 19.’
The tweet included a photo of ‘Uncle Luke,’ a rapper whose legal name is Luther Luke Campbell.
Navarro replied to the post by writing: ‘Me so vaccinated!’
The comment was apparently an attempt at humor by using a play on words of the phrase ‘Me so horny.’
The phrase was uttered in a famous scene from the 1987 war film Full Metal Jacket.
In the scene from the Stanley Kubrick drama about the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese prostitute in Da Nang offers her services to two American GIs named Joker and Rafterman, played respectively by Matthew Modine and Kevyn Major Howard.
Peter Forester tweeted: 'This would be grossly racist any other week. But this week, after a terrorist murdered six Asian women in Georgia...repulsive'
Another Twitter user commented: 'Hooooooly s***'
'Hearing about people getting shot just like dad used to do it gets you hot and flustered, and the racism just spill out, huh?' tweeted another Twitter user
Another Twitter user wrote: 'Gotta say, I expected better than this from the daughter of a Contra'
James Bradford tweeted: 'You didn't actually just paraphrase a legendarily anti-Asian racist trope on the heels of a hate crime based mass murder of Asian women. I must be seeing things'
‘Well, baby, me so horny. Me so horny. Me love you long time,’ the Vietnamese escort tells the two American soldiers in the film.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Navarro, CNN, and ABC seeking comment.
Reaction on Twitter was scathing.
Peter Forester tweeted: 'This would be grossly racist any other week. But this week, after a terrorist murdered six Asian women in Georgia...repulsive.'
Another Twitter user commented: 'Hooooooly s***.'
'Hearing about people getting shot just like dad used to do it gets you hot and flustered, and the racism just spill out, huh?' tweeted another Twitter user.
Navarro is the daughter of Augusto Navarro, a wealthy Nicaraguan landowner who fought with the Contras against the left-wing Sandinista government in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Navarro's tweet was a play-on-words of a famous line from the 1987 Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket. In the scene from the movie about the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese prostitute (right) in Da Nang offers her services to two American GIs named Joker and Rafterman, played respectively by Matthew Modine (center) and Kevyn Major Howard (left). ‘Well, baby, me so horny. Me so horny. Me love you long time,’ the Vietnamese escort, played by Papillon Soo Soo, tells the two American soldiers in the film
The Contra rebels who were supported by the Reagan administration have long been accused of atrocities against Nicaraguans, including murder, rape, and torture.
After fleeing the turmoil in her country and emigrating to the United States in 1980, Ana Navarro has long stated that the Reagan administration's support for the Contras was what led her to becoming a lifelong supporter of the Republican Party.
Another Twitter user wrote of her tweet on Friday: 'Gotta say, I expected better than this from the daughter of a Contra.'
James Bradford tweeted: 'You didn't actually just paraphrase a legendarily anti-Asian racist trope on the heels of a hate crime based mass murder of Asian women. I must be seeing things.'
Another Twitter user posted a meme from The Simpsons with the caption: 'You should be more ashamed of yourself than usual.'
Before her career as a television pundit, Ana Navarro was a prominent activist in Republican politics having worked for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the late Senator John McCain, and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.
Ana Navarro has been a frequent media commentator, particularly since emerging as a 'Never Trump' Republican during the Donald Trump presidency from 2016 until 2020.
Morgan on Tuesday branded his former CNN colleague Navarro a 'treacherous little back-stabber' after she celebrated his departure from Good Morning Britain amid criticism over his comments about Markle.
Piers Morgan (left) branded his former CNN colleague Ana Navarro (right) a 'treacherous little back-stabber' after she celebrated his departure from Good Morning Britain amid criticism over his comments about Meghan Markle
Navarro, a CNN political commentator and frequent co-host on The View, took to Twitter last week following Morgan's announcement that he was leaving his anchor post at GMB after facing pushback for his reaction to Meghan and Prince Harry's bombshell Oprah interview
Morgan, who hosted his own CNN show from 2011 to 2014, hit back at Navarro on Tuesday and refuted her suggestion that he was fired from GMB's outlet ITV or CNN
Morgan (left) resigned from Good Morning Britain a day after he stormed off set during an on-air row with colleague Alex Beresford, who criticized him for 'continuing to trash' the Duchess of Sussex. Morgan is seen left alongside GMB co-host Susanna Reid on March 8
Navarro took to Twitter last week following Morgan's announcement that he was leaving his anchor post at GMB after facing pushback for his reaction to Meghan and Prince Harry's bombshell Oprah interview.
'If no other change comes out of the #OprahMeghanHarry interview, that it lead to @piersmorgan getting fired again from yet another job, seems like a good outcome for the benefit of humanity,' Navarro tweeted.
Morgan, who hosted his own CNN show from 2011 to 2014, hit back at Navarro on Tuesday and refuted her suggestion that he was fired from GMB's outlet ITV or CNN.
'Hi Ana, I wasn't fired by ITV (I'm still working for them) just as I wasn't fired by CNN (I was offered a new 2-year deal - ask Jeff),' Morgan tweeted, referring to CNN President Jeff Zucker.
'But great to see you're just as big a treacherous little back-stabber now as you were when I worked at CNN,' he added.
Sources at ITV have said that Morgan 'will continue to make programs for the channel' after his departure from GMB, according to iNews.
This is likely to include his popular celebrity interview program, Life Stories, which has been on air since 2009.
Morgan resigned from GMB on March 9, a day after he stormed off set during an on-air row with co-host Alex Beresford, who criticized him for 'continuing to trash' the Duchess of Sussex.
The polarizing host had said he 'didn't believe a word' of Meghan's interview with Oprah, where she talked about experiencing racism within the Royal Family and feeling suicidal when she was pregnant with son Archie.
There were more than 41,000 complaints received by Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, including one from Meghan herself following the clash.
The duchess is said to have raised concerns with ITV about the effect Morgan's comments may have on the issue of mental health generally and those attempting to deal with their own problems.
Morgan later repeated his condemnation of the interview when he told reporters outside his West London home: 'If I have to fall on my sword for expressing an honestly held opinion about Meghan Markle and that diatribe of bilge that she came out with in that interview, so be it.'
Soon after he announced his resignation and tweeted his thanks to the GMB team, praising them for their 'hard work and dedication' that led to them beating their main breakfast TV rival.
In the wake of his departure at least three petitions calling for Morgan to be reinstated on GMB garnered more than 240,000 signatures.
Morgan ruled out a return to the show but called the petitions a 'pleasant surprise' in an Instagram statement last Saturday.
'I won't be going back, but thanks to everyone who has signed these petitions. Normally, people start petitions to have me fired or deported, so this is a pleasant surprise,' he wrote.
Earlier this week, Teen Vogue editor Alexi McCammond resigned over racist, anti-Asian tweets she wrote as a teenager surfaced online
Posting tweets perceived as racist against Asians cost McCammond an opportunity to helm Teen Vogue.
Saying her past anti-Asian and homophobic tweets have overshadowed her work, McCammond said on Thursday that she and publisher Conde Nast have decided to part ways at Teen Vogue.
'I should not have tweeted what I did and I have taken full responsibility for that,' the journalist said in a statement posted on social media.
'I look at my work and growth in the years since, and have redoubled my commitment to growing in the years to come as both a person and as a professional.'
McCammond, who is black, was tapped as the incoming editor in chief to replace Lindsay Peoples Wagner, but the tweets from when she was a teenager and college student in 2011 resurfaced after the appointment was announced.
Calls for the magazine to replace her were mounting, with more than 20 Teen Vogue staff members posting a statement last week saying they had written management in support of readers and others alarmed by the now-deleted tweets.
They noted that McCammond's appointment comes at a time of 'historically high anti-Asian violence and amid the ongoing struggles of the LGBTQ community.'
In an internal email, Conde Nast's 'chief people officer' Stan Duncan told US staff that McCammond's departure comes as the 'best path forward' so as not to 'overshadow' Teen Vogue's work to become more equitable and inclusive.
McCammond, 27, was appointed earlier this month by the digital-only Teen Vogue.
She had worked as a political journalist in Washington for Axios and was an on-air contributor for MSNBC.
Duncan noted she had disclosed the tweets during the hiring process but that Conde Nast was 'dedicated to making her successful in this role.'
People on Friday view a makeshift memorial set up in front of an Atlanta spa that was targeted by a gunman on Tuesday. Robert Aaron Long, a white man, is accused of killing several people, most of whom were of Asian descent, at massage parlors in the Atlanta area
So what changed? McCammond was due to take over as editor in chief March 24.
Last week, one of Teen Vogue's major advertisers, the popular skincare and cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty, announced it had paused ad spending there, saying it stands with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
It did not disclose its Teen Vogue ad budget.
On Thursday, after word broke that McCammond was out at Teen Vogue, Ulta Beauty said in a statement: 'We saw today's news and are still in discussions with Conde Nast to determine next steps. For the time being, our advertising spend remains paused.'
The tweets first surfaced in 2019, when McCammond said she was 'deeply sorry' and that the posts 'do not reflect my views or who I am today.'
She apologized again after her Teen Vogue appointment, saying on social media 'there's no excuse for perpetuating those awful stereotypes in any way.'
On Thursday, McCammond said she became a journalist to 'lift up the stories and voices of our most vulnerable communities,' and hopes to do that as a journalist once again.
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