OAN Deven Berryhill
UPDATED 3:19 PM PT – Friday, February 24, 2023
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will not entertain any further questions or interview requests from NBC News or MSNBC until news anchor Andrea Mitchell apologizes for misrepresenting him in a recent interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
DeSantis (R-Fla.) has protested NBC Universal for being misrepresented in an interview Mitchell had with the Vice President Kamala Harris.
“What does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about Black history and the Black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?” Mitchell asked.
“[DeSantis] says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren,” Harris said.
To note, the Florida Republican’s press secretary Bryan Griffin responded in a tweet saying that this statement is false.
Many agree that the NBC host and the Vice President were responding to a press conference held by the governor last week regarding the “Black History” issue. DeSantis has said in the press conference that his administration had banned African American studies course in Florida schools because it contained subjects such as “queer theory” and “Neo-Marxism” in its syllabus.
“We do education not indoctrination,” DeSantis said.
The Florida Department of Education concluded “That [this course] runs afoul of our standards.”
“I think we need to step back. There will be no consideration of anything related to NBC Universal or its affiliates until and at least Andrea Mitchell corrects the blatant lie she made about the governor,” said DeSantis in a statement.
Mitchell tacked on a short “postscript” at the end of her NBC show on Wednesday.
“In my interview last Friday with Vice President Harris, I was imprecise in summarizing Gov. DeSantis’ position about teaching slavery in schools. Gov. DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teaching of an African American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since,” Mitchell said.