Racist slur 'Uncle Tim' mocking Tim Scott trends all night due to Twitter's faulty algorithm: 'Attack by left'
On late Wednesday night, April 28, 2021, an offensive Twitter trend had started doing the rounds. The racial slur about Senator Tim Scott was trending on the site for 12 hours. The only Black Republican senator was on the receiving end of attacks calling him 'Uncle Tim' for saying "America is not a racist country" in his rebuttal to President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress.
Scott had noted in his speech that he has been the subject of derogatory comments about his race because of his political views. In an appearance on 'Fox & Friends' on Thursday, April 29, Scott slammed those who used the slur, saying "you cannot step out of your lane according to the liberal elite left."
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It wasn’t until 10 am on Thursday, April 29, that the social media giant stopped the attacks from appearing in its 'Trends' list.
'Attacking color of my skin'
"Intolerance so often comes from the left with words like ‘Uncle Tim’ and the N-word being used against me by the left, and last night what was trending on social media was 'Uncle Tim,'" Scott, a second-term senator from South Carolina, said on the show. "It is stunning in 2021 that those who speak about ending discrimination want to end it by more discrimination."
He added, "The left has doubled down that they are going to, not attack my policies, but they're literally attacking the color of my skin."
Scott said added that the attacks on Twitter were "upsetting certainly" and "disappointing".
"Those people who want to be respected and given the opportunity to live their lives any way they want to, they don't want the same thing for me and you. What they want for us is for us to stay in a little, small corner and not go against the tide that they think is America. Their America and my America aren’t the same America - if, in fact, they think that discriminating is the fastest way to end discrimination,” Scott said, adding that the United States has learned lessons from its past.
"Racism and discrimination: it’s still real, but it is being pushed further and further into a smaller corner in our nation. That’s great news that we should celebrate," he said.
"If you want to be an American, the door is wide open - the front door by the way - is wide open to come in and add value to who we are, not be a part of destructive conversations that belittle individuals," he added.
Twitter allowed slur to trend
Editor at The Federalist and a Fox News contributor, Mollie Hemingway blasted Twitter for "choosing to trend a racist attack from the left" on Scott.
"Twitter is still out here going out of its way to make racist attacks against GOP Sen. Tim Scott go viral. Apparently they want him to suffer for the crime of upstaging Biden via a highly effective speech. Disgusting," she said on Twitter.
Twitter is still out here going out of its way to make racist attacks against GOP Sen. Tim Scott go viral. Apparently they want him to suffer for the crime of upstaging Biden via a highly effective speech. Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/zwXYyowdIX
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 29, 2021
On Thursday April 29, 2021, morning, Twitter finally blocked the phrase from Trends. "This is in line with our policies on Trends," a Twitter spokesperson reportedly said.
"This means that at times, we may not allow or may temporarily prevent content from appearing in Trends until more context is available," the spokesperson said. "This includes Trends that violate The Twitter Rules."
Twitter blames algorithm
According to the latest reports, the Twitter spokesperson blamed "an algorithm" for allowing "Uncle Tim" to trend.
"This algorithm identifies topics that are popular now, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help you discover the hottest emerging topics of discussion on Twitter," the spokesperson said.