*Brian Williams ran afoul of Twitter Tuesday after comparing President Obama’s style of speaking (in this case, before a largely African American crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina) to that of late comic Richard Pryor — a characterization labeled by many as racist.
Anchoring MSNBC’s broadcast of Obama’s first campaign appearance with Hillary Clinton, Williams made comment after the speech was completed.
“The president was being urged by one member of the crowd to preach,” said Williams during the broadcast. “He seemingly tried to at one point — borrowing almost a Richard Pryor delivery to deliver the degree of his disgust and disdain for the other side, the comments clearly aimed at Donald Trump.”
Watch Williams’ comment below:
Twitter took notice, with many viewers calling the statement racist. One person said he “proves his white privilege and ineptness” with the recent comments, and others accused him of disrespecting President Obama.
Brian Williams just called Obama’s speech the “Richard Pryor delivery.” wow.
— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) July 5, 2016
@xianb8 @Meka_luvs_music Brian Williams is a joke and so white he doesn’t even realize how racist that sounded
— maraleia (@maraleia) July 5, 2016
I actually supported Brian Williams when he was caught lying, felt his suspension was unfair, until he decided to disrespect @POTUS
— Corey B. King (@coreybking) July 5, 2016
@jdny2 to Brian Williams from the late great Richard Pryor pic.twitter.com/M8yihsjlXE
— Dina (@dinasailing) July 5, 2016
Some of the disgruntled tweets roped in Chuck Todd, who was on hand with Williams and suggested that the president is “too good” at charming a Southern crowd. He also made a point to say that POTUS drops the letter “g” from the end of words whenever he speaks to crowds south of the Mason Dixon Line.
Brian Williams said the Obama’s speech was the “Richard Pryor delivery”. Chuck Todd asked if Obama was too good at this. MSNBC is a toilet.
— Jake Dawson (@jdny2) July 5, 2016
I bet @lesterholtnbc would never say @potus had the delivery of Richard Pryor (Brian Williams) or was too good at what he does (Chuck Todd).
— I’m That Type Of Guy (@Marrrrcussss) July 5, 2016
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