BS BULLETIN:

• Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal ignited a firestorm after calling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a “bought and paid by AIPAC monkey” and an “errand boy.”
• The Congressional Black Caucus and prominent Democrats condemned the language, while podcast host Wajahat Ali has faced his own backlash over his handling of the exchange.
• Now Joy Reid is defending Jebreal, arguing that her foreign background may have left her unaware of the racial implications — while suggesting similar language from conservatives would more likely be malicious.

There apparently is an acceptable way to call a Black man a “monkey.”

You just have to have the right politics.

Former MSNBC host Joy Reid is defending Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal after Jebreal called House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a “bought and paid by AIPAC monkey” during an appearance on progressive commentator Wajahat Ali’s “The Left Hook” podcast.

Jebreal was attacking Jeffries over his support for Israel and ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee when she delivered the line.

“With all due respect — and I don’t mean it in a racist way,” Jebreal immediately added.

She then called Jeffries an “errand boy.”

Ali eventually addressed the language during the conversation, noting that calling a Black person a monkey carries “terrible racial connotations.”

Jebreal explained that she wasn’t referring to Jeffries’ race but to the famous three wise monkeys — see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. That explanation didn’t satisfy the Congressional Black Caucus.

“To be clear, there isn’t a non-racist way to call Leader Jeffries — a Black man — a ‘monkey’ or ‘errand boy,’” the caucus declared.

And the CBC didn’t stop with Jebreal. It specifically called out Ali for providing the platform.

“This is what happens when we hold ourselves to such low standards for what’s allowable in our discourse — people get comfortable being openly bigoted,” the caucus said. “We have to stop platforming and trafficking in anti-Black racism, whether it’s on the political right or the left.”

Other Democrats piled on.

Rep. Joe Neguse called the remarks “blatantly racist and offensive rhetoric” that should be condemned across the political spectrum. Rep. Ritchie Torres was even more direct.

“Calling a Black man a ‘monkey’ is racist. Full stop,” Torres wrote, pointing directly at the political double standard. “If Wajahat Ali and Rula Jebreal were on the far right, no one on the far left would have any trouble condemning them for dehumanizing a Black man in racist terms.”

Jebreal subsequently apologized. She reiterated her fierce opposition to Jeffries’ support for Israel and AIPAC, but acknowledged that the term she used was “inappropriate and offensive and should never have been used.”

“I apologize unconditionally,” she wrote.

Case closed?

Enter Joy Reid.

During her YouTube show Friday, Reid argued that Jebreal had stumbled while trying to make a political point and suggested a “cultural disconnection” could explain what happened.

Reid noted that Jebreal wasn’t born and raised in the United States and argued that people from other countries sometimes don’t possess the same understanding of African-American history and the sensitivities surrounding criticism of Black political leaders.

But then Reid introduced an interesting distinction. She suggested Jebreal’s remark should not necessarily be viewed the same way similar language from someone on the political right might be viewed.

Conservatives, Reid argued, tend to be “absolutely malicious” in such situations. Jebreal, by contrast, apparently deserved the benefit of the doubt.

That’s quite a loophole.

Meanwhile, Ali has been fighting his own battle over the controversy. He has stressed that he did address the racial implications during the interview and noted that Jebreal apologized. But some of his critics — including people on the left — have accused him of failing to confront her forcefully enough in the moment.

Ali has responded by pointing toward racism elsewhere, criticizing Israel and challenging critics over their positions on Gaza and the West Bank. That hasn’t made the controversy disappear. If anything, it has made the political divide underlying it more obvious.

MY QUICK TAKE

Now that’s impressive.

Rula Jebreal called a Black man a “monkey,” realized she’d stepped in it, and apologized. The Congressional Black Caucus said it was racist. Democratic lawmakers said it was racist.

And Joy Reid still managed to locate the emergency “But she’s one of us” exit ramp.

Apparently racism now comes with an ideological intent test. Good thing we have Joy available to administer it.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

• Mediaite — Joy Reid defends Rula Jebreal over ‘AIPAC monkey’ criticism
• Twitchy — Wajahat Ali faces backlash after Jebreal controversy
• Fox News — Democratic lawmakers erupt over Jebreal’s Jeffries remark
• New York Post — Rula Jebreal calls Hakeem Jeffries an ‘AIPAC monkey’
• Times of Israel — Black lawmakers reject Jebreal’s explanation
• Just the News — Democratic lawmakers condemn journalist over Jeffries remark