Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) exposed CNN guest and Vanderbilt professor Michael Eric Dyson during a House Oversight Committee hearing after he called her a “white supremacist.”
Mace entered photos of flirtatious text messages Dyson sent her into the official record on Thursday, in which she claims he “begged me for photos, in this text, after calling me a racist on CNN.”
The South Carolina Republican said Dyson texted her, “Don’t tell anybody we look good together,” and then sent her a “kissy emoji.”
“The guy says I’m gorgeous in all these photos. I don’t think he’s that bent out of shape about how anyone pronounces [Vice President] Kamala [Harris],” Mace continued. “If we're going to have that standard, you got to hold it to both sides, not just one or the one or the other.”
She shared a photo of the two of them in which Dyson told Mace that her “gorgeousness makes the photos.”
🚨🇺🇸 REP NANCY MACE: MICHAEL ERIC DYSON CALLED ME A RACIST ON CNN, THEN SENT ME TEXT MESSAGES SAYING 'WE LOOK GOOD TOGETHER'
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 19, 2024
“I would like to also enter into the record a screenshot of a text message I received from the esteemed professor from Vanderbilt, Michael Eric Dyson,… pic.twitter.com/GBSuRUrWBr
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) September 19, 2024
Hours later, Dyson took to social media and admitted he sent the texts to Mace, adding that she is a “sorry racist who is seeking to distort the truth and tell lies.” He claimed that just because he called her gorgeous does not mean he was flirting with her, referencing an article in which he also called Rev. Jesse Jackson "gorgeous."
“The ridiculous lies told by Nancy Mace in the effort to smear my name because of her anger at being checked for her insensitive disregard for @VP. I had no intent with her to do anything but be nice,” Dyson wrote. “And her white women’s tears and mendacity are all in the service of lies and distortions. I was wrong about one thing: she IS a bigot and racist.”
The ridiculous lies told by Nancy Mace in the effort to smear my name because of her anger at being checked for her insensitive disregard for @VP I had no intent with her to do anything but be nice. And her white women’s tears and mendacity are all in the service of lies and…
— Michael Eric Dyson (@MichaelEDyson) September 20, 2024
In August, Mace and Dyson appeared on CNN News Night with Abby Phillip, in which Dyson attacked Mace for mispronouncing Harris’ name.