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Jen Psaki branded 'racist' for saying WH runs PSAs on 'Deadliest Catch' and NASCAR to reach White conservatives

'That leaves me out because I’m white but don’t watch Deadliest Catch or do country music. Racist much?,' said a user

To bring the hesitant Americans to the Covid-19 vaccination table, the Joe Biden administration is running commercials during NASCAR and the ‘Deadliest Catch’, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a media briefing on Monday, April 12. Stressing that the administration is trying a number of creative ways to encourage people to get inoculated, Psaki said: “We’ve run PSAs on 'The Deadliest Catch', we're engaged with NASCAR and Country Music TV. We're looking for a range of creative ways to get directly connected to White conservative communities.” Her remark left a number of conservatives offended. 

According to Psaki, the goal was to “meet people where they are”. The TV commercials are part of an ad campaign worth $3 billion from the White House to see more Americans to take the jab. Initially, it was seen that the minority communities were mainly hesitant to take the vaccine but a recent Kaiser Health News poll said that “Republicans and White evangelical Christians were the most likely to say they will not get vaccinated, with almost 30 percent of each group saying they will “definitely not” get a shot. A PBS/NPR Marist survey said 49 percent of Republican men said they would not go for the vaccine if it was made available to them, while in the case of women, it was 34 percent. The US has seen more than 31 million people getting infected by Covid-19 while 562,000 have died. 

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‘Deadliest Catch’

‘Deadliest Catch’ is a reality TV series that shows crabs fishermen on fishing vessels in the Bering Sea in the seasons when the Alaskan king crab and snow crab are hunted. For the fishing fleet, the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor in Alaska is the base of operations. The show on the Discovery Channel is produced by Original Productions and the title of the show is derived from the risk which is involved with the work in this profession. 

Recently, “Wild” Bill Wichrowski, the captain of the F/V Summer Bay, one of the boats that featured in the show, said in an exclusive interview with Looper that the effects of the pandemic on the fleet and the crab-fishing industry have been adverse. “It was the most uncomfortable season I've ever had,” he said, adding the fallout from the pandemic is visible as the show’s season 17 heads out to sea. 

Reactions to Psaki's remark

The press secretary’s words met with sarcastic reactions from a lot of people on social media. One user posted with a 'flipping the bird' emoji, "Hay little racist Jen Psaki Deadliest Catch this". "That leaves me out because I’m white but don’t watch Deadliest Catch or do country music. Racist much? said a user while another said: “The Biden Administration is going to run ads on Deadliest Catch begging for conservatives to get the COVID vaccine. Republican men are going to end up boycotting the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, NBA, and now fishing. We're just one well-chosen boycott away from them not breeding anymore.”

Another by the name @LadyRedWave reacted to Psaki saying: “This witch is seriously messed up! Psaki ‘plan to reach white conservatives’ on getting the vaccine: "We've run PSAs on the Deadliest Catch, we're engaged with NASCAR & Country Music TV" -Sorry I’m a white conservative & none of that reaches me & BESIDES I think for myself!” Another called @Hulka_Sgt said: “Note to self: I need to start watching Deadliest Catch, NASCAR, and Country Music TV to be more conservative.”