CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins corrected political analyst Bakari Sellers after he falsely characterized Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as a "white governor from the Deep South."
Sellers, a former Democratic representative from South Carolina, made the comment after a CNN town hall event with Haley on Sunday.
“One of the major elements of the Nikki Haley story is Charleston,” he said.
“Nikki Haley did not take down the Confederate flag,” Sellers continued. “That bothers me when she alludes to it or people state that, because that’s incorrect. Nine people died so that the Confederate flag could come down.”
“But there also has to be some credit given to a white governor from the Deep South being able to go to nine funerals because I saw the exhaustion on her face — being a leader during that time and being able to bridge people together,” Sellers added.
Collins jumped in to correct Sellers, noting that Haley is “the first woman of color that is running in this."
CNN’s Bakari Sellers calls Nikki Haley ‘white governor’ after town hall https://t.co/W8LhRylP0x
— New York Post (@nypost) June 5, 2023
When elected in 2010, Haley became the first Asian American woman to serve as a state’s governor.
In case you forgot @Bakari_Sellers...
— Suzanne Youngblood Lane (@SuzYoungblood) June 5, 2023
NIKKI HALEY: I was elected the first female minority
governor in history. https://t.co/OtKIondNp0 pic.twitter.com/fEB4vZ3loT
Haley's communications director, Nachama Soloveichik, called the comment "a joke."
Did @Bakari_Sellers just call Nikki Haley a "white governor"? What a joke.
— Nachama Soloveichik (@nachamasol) June 5, 2023
In a separate statement to reporters, Soloveichik said Haley is the only GOP presidential candidate addressing voters' questions in town hall events and on the ground.
“She has released conservative policy solutions on a host of issues and addressed many of those issues tonight," Soloveichik added, referring to the topics discussed during the CNN event. "Nikki Haley won’t cave to the liberal talking heads, and that’s what voters love about her.”