New York Times reporter and creator of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones stirred up controversy on Twitter Monday when she claimed in a since-deleted tweet that ‘tipping is a legacy of slavery,’ sparking an argument with an historian she claims is ‘obsessed’ with her.
‘Tipping is a legacy of slavery and if it’s not optional then it shouldn’t be a tip but simply included in the bill,’ Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted Monday. ‘Have you ever stopped to think why we tip, like why tipping is a practice in the U.S. and almost nowhere else?’
Hannah-Jones, 45, who spearheaded a New York Times Magazine issue titled ‘The 1619 Project’ which aimed to reframe American history by ‘placing the consequences of slavery at the center of the national narrative,’ ultimately deleted the tweet but continued arguing with historian Phil Magness on the issue.
Magness, the author of a rival project called ‘The 1619 Project: A Critique,’ posted a screenshot of Hannah-Jones’ original tweet about her tipping claim and captioned it, ‘Wait, what?’
In a tweet thread early Tuesday, Magness argued that tipping is not just a practice in the U.S., but something that is done in other countries. He posted a chart from Good Housekeeping that shows a guide for tipping while traveling around the world.
Magness also argued that the practice of tipping had existed long before American slavery. He cited a scene from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night,’ in which tipping is mentioned, as well as a 1730s travel guide to Europe.
Hannah-Jones went off on Magness, accusing him of being obsessed with her and saying he couldn’t cancel or discredit her with graphics and links to opinion articles.
‘I know your obsession with my Twitter account is unrelenting because it’s the only time anyone pays attention to your tweets, but come on,’ she tweeted.