by BOBBY BURACK
Hunter Biden repeatedly used the N-word while addressing his white attorney George Mesires, text messages from 2018 and 2019 obtained by the Daily Mail show. However, that isn’t the story. Instead, the story is that the media views it as a non-story.
Blue-chip media outlets don’t hide their inconsistencies, they embrace them. We all know that if this were Don Jr., it’d lead primetime programs on CNN and MSNBC as well as every morning talk show. But it’s not Don Jr. Hunter Biden is the first son of a protected administration, so his use of the N-word isn’t worth a headline.
As cable news blogger Johnny Dollar discovered, CNN made no mention of it anywhere on their website.
Perhaps CNN is selective when covering a sitting president’s son. CNN waits for the big stories, like:
Eric Trump, a son of President Trump, liked a tweet on Wednesday that used a sexist slur to refer to California Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden's decision to pick her as his running mate https://t.co/90kXyLNzob
— CNN (@CNN) August 14, 2020
It’s accurate to surmise that Hunter’s use of the word wasn’t malicious. He said it to a white person in a conversation that excluded race. That’s fair, though an argument built around context would be novel.
When the N-word has been uttered by those less coddled than Hunter, the media offers no such grace or common sense.
NASCAR driver Kyle Larson is still apologizing for his similarly foolish but non-malicious use of the word. Larson was crucified in the media, fired by Chip Ganassi Racing, and lost nearly all of his sponsors.
College-aged students, much younger than Hunter was in 2018-19, have had their lives ruined for past uses of the slur. Mimi Groves, now 19, was kicked off the University of Tennessee’s cheer team after a classmate arbitrarily posted an old video of Groves saying the N-word in high school. The headlines of the videos made it worse. As Groves puts it, her “dream” was shattered. Groves was over-punished. But what did you expect? She’s a Groves, not a Biden.
What’s evident is that outrage is rarely honest or consistent. Media members, politicians, and influencers strategically pick their spots about when they will say they are offended and demand change.
