Lebanese Ministry of Information
Tweet, which echoes racist memes, prompts outrage and slew of rebuttals on social media
Donald Trump Jr has used a Twitter post to liken Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles and suggest that America should not accept any.
The tweet sparked outrage on social media, with some users posting harrowing images of Syrians caught up in the civil war juxtaposed with the word Skittles.
In a series of tweets, Clara Jeffery, the editor-in-chief of the website Mother Jones, lambasted Trump Jr and contrasted his comments with her mother’s efforts to help refugees from the Cambodian genocide
Apart from being controversial, the tweet is not actually original. Joe Walsh, the former congressman and rightwing talk show host whose statements have been criticized as incendiary, has voiced similar ideas.
One Twitter user has suggested how Wrigley, the company that owns Skittles, could respond.
A spokeswoman for Wrigley later told the Guardian that Trump Jnr’s analogy was inappropriate.
“Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it is an appropriate analogy,” she said.
“We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing.”
