Conservative political commentator and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza apologized on Wednesday after facing backlash from both sides of the aisle for mocking the teen survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting on Valentine’s Day.
D’Souza received thousands of replies from enraged Twitter users after he wrote to his 800,000 followers on Tuesday, “Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs.”
Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs https://t.co/Vg3mXYvb4c
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 20, 2018
The tweet was in response to an Associated Press photo that shows school shooting survivors in tears after the Florida’s House voted down a bill to ban the sale of assault weapons.
In a separate post, also about the vote of Florida lawmakers, D’Souza tweeted, “Adults 1, kids 0.” He then criticized the media for exploiting the Parkland shooting that took the lives of 17 people, including 15-year-old Peter Wang.
Adults 1, kids 0 https://t.co/24iqKtnTxy
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 20, 2018
Genuine grief I can empathize with. But grief organized for the cameras—politically orchestrated grief—strikes me as phony & inauthentic
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 21, 2018
While the media exploits the Parkland shooting, my heart goes out to the parents & family members who are grieving the loss of loved ones
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 21, 2018
D’Souza tweeted out an apology the following day, hours after the “insensitive” post.
While it aimed at media manipulation, my tweet was insensitive to students who lost friends in a terrible tragedy. I’m truly sorry
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 21, 2018
But the damage was done and Twitter users were not pleased at all:
You. Piece. Of. Shit. pic.twitter.com/Kp5ecGQN6E
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) February 20, 2018
You’re a trash human being. https://t.co/HP5UYqSpRY
— Michael Jenkins (@JenksNBCS) February 21, 2018
Brown Friends don’t let Brown Friends grow up and become Dinesh D’Souza’s.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 20, 2018
Dinesh D’Souza is that kid in high school who drew swastikas on his binder to shock people but called his mom crying when he got a C on an algebra test
— Ej Dickson (@ejdickson) February 20, 2018
Dinesh D’Souza with the expert troll on [checks notes] students who just watched their classmates die. pic.twitter.com/qgJBMgj7CO
— Peter Finocchiaro (@PLFino) February 20, 2018
Imagine being so depraved that you have to go after kids this way. pic.twitter.com/Kcsg0arQOw
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 20, 2018
Dinesh D’Souza is giving a speech this Friday. It would be a shame if his sponsors heard that they support a guy who mocks mass shooting victims. pic.twitter.com/NCsIQnGuJA
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) February 21, 2018
In 2014, the bestselling author of “The Big Lie” and documentarian of “2016: Obama’s America” and “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party” was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to one felony count of violating federal campaign finance laws, according to The Hill.
