Keith Olbermann Criticized for Calling Trump a 'Whiny Little Kunta Kinte'

It's too early for this but Keith Olbermann is doing it anyway. Among other things, the tweet in question was called out for obvious racism and general idiocy.

November 3, 2020

Image via Getty/Chris Sorensen for The Washington Post
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Early though it may be, the bad tweets have already started.

On the morning of the 2020 presidential election, politics and sports commentator Keith Olbermann shared a clip of Fox & Friends hosts speaking by phone with the current POTUS, who criticized the typically pro-Trump network for having "changed a lot." Trump also complained about the network, by his estimation, putting "[Obama] on more than anybody else."

The clip in question stands on its own and doesn't require additional commentary, yet Olbermann made the baffling decision to to say Trump "has always been, will always be, and on the day of his bid for re-election, still is: a whiny little Kunta Kinte."

The tweet has since been deleted. Olbermann followed it up with a sort-of explanation, saying, "I was using an old 70's-80's technique for calling somebody a c*** without writing/saying c***, just using a sound-alike to call Trump a c***."

Olbermann's comparison of Trump to the Roots: The Saga of an American Family figure, famously played by LeVar Burton and John Amos in the original 1977 miniseries adaptation, was met with immediate (and well-deserved) blowback. Burton himself got into the fray, critiquing Olbermann's explanation attempt with, "Dear @KeithOlbermann, #Kunta is pronounced with a long 'u' as in unity, not a short 'u' as in cup. Try again! Love, Kunta."

In addition to calling out the racism of the tweet, many also pointed to its early morning arrival as a sign of just how egregious the timeline is certain to get as the hours continue to stack up: