I know what you've been thinking: "Hey, Rob Schneider's been pretty quiet. What does he think about the current state of American politics?" Well, wonder no more, since the 53-year-old actor just took a moment away from promoting his Netflix series Real Rob to give some truly bogus input on Rep. John Lewis and civil rights.
Rep. John Lewis has been in the news recently after he revealed that he won't be attending Donald Trump's inauguration, saying that he doesn't see the president-elect as a "legitimate president."
"It will be the first one that I miss since I've been in Congress," he said on Meet The Press. "You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right." Trump then responded on Twitter.
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
Trump's criticism of a bonafide civil rights hero (who marched with Martin Luther King Jr, is the last living member of the Civil Rights movements Big Six, and was one of the original Freedom Riders) caused a slew of representatives to also boycott the ceremony.
Enter Rob Schneider, who for some reason felt this dialogue was missing his input.
Rep. Lewis. You are a great person. But Dr. King didn't give in to his anger or his hurt. That is how he accomplished & won Civil Rights.
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 16, 2017
"Rep. Lewis. You are a great person," the tweet begins. "But Dr. King didn't give in to his anger or his hurt. That is how he accomplished & won Civil Rights."
This statement is not just patronizing, but it's also a purposeful misunderstanding of Dr. King's work. It's further proof that much of MLK's legacy has been shaped and twisted by white people into a symbol of anti-racism that makes them feel comfortable, rather than the truth. Just look at King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail " or his 1968 speech "The Other America " and you'll see that King didn't just give into his anger, but he used it as a tool to make change, much like what Rep. John Lewis is doing today.
Schneider was immediately hit with some well-deserved backlash.
.@RobSchneider don't whitesplain mlk to the man who literally sat at the table with mlk pic.twitter.com/oAg4VqlEb4
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 16, 2017
@RobSchneider Sit ALL the way down, Deuce. You don't need to be whitesplaining civil rights history to John Lewis.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) January 16, 2017
. @RobSchneider It's too bad Martin Luther King himself isn't alive, so that you, Rob Schneider, could lecture him on Civil Rights.
— Nathan Rabin (@nathanrabin) January 16, 2017
As of now, Schneider hasn't addressed the anger, but he still has a few more hours of MLK day to at least attempt to patch this up. We're not holding our breath.
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