Connecticut AG hit with racist comments after posting video with puppy

Connecticut State Atty. Gen. William Tong has been targeted by racist comments after posting a video of himself with a dog on Instagram last week.

Meet Night: The 34-second video introduced Night, a 5-month-old black lab mix that Tong’s family had fostered for several weeks. Tong described Night as a “sweet little puppy” and a “great guest” whom they were going to miss, as he was about to get adopted. In the video, Night is seen running around in the snow alongside family dog Celeste.

Blatant racism: In a follow-up post, Tong shared multiple comments that accused him of eating dogs. One user wrote, “Poor dog starts to shake when he sees Tong coming with the peanut butter.” Another noted, “Sum Ting Wong Tong gonna be eating good!!!” One more commented “time to get the chopsticks out,” while another said, “Renee Good him.”

Why this matters: The wave of racist remarks is reminiscent of the countless verbal attacks Asian Americans endured amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which President Donald Trump infamously referred to as the “kung flu,” among other controversial names. Tong took the opportunity to call out Trump and Vice President JD Vance for dehumanizing people, this time over their false claims about Haitian immigrants and their administration’s draconian immigration enforcement.

“One year after the president and the vice president amplified racist lies about Haitian immigrants, this kind of language continues to be normalized,” Tong wrote. “Words fuel cruelty, hate and lower the bar for how we treat one another. The death of Renee Good and the vile reactions that followed, from claims that ‘she had it coming’ to an ICE agent caught on audio calling her a ‘f-ing b-h.’”

He added, “Leadership sets the tone and this is the cost when it fails.”