Bakari Sellers, a former Democrat member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, called former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley — who is Indian American — a “white governor from the deep south,” in a Sunday appearance on CNN.
Sellers, who is a CNN political commentator and an attorney, made the comment during a CNN panel after Haley participated in a CNN town hall to discuss her candidacy. He discussed Haley’s response after a 2015 shooting by neo-Nazi Dylann Roof, who killed nine African Americans.
Sellers said, “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 bring people together.”
Haley’s communications director Nachama Solveikchik tweeted:
Did @Bakari_Sellers just call Nikki Haley a ‘white governor’? What a joke.
Did @Bakari_Sellers just call Nikki Haley a "white governor"? What a joke.
— Nachama Soloveichik (@nachamasol) June 5, 2023
Panel moderator CNN Anchor Kaitlin Collins appeared to correct Sellers, commenting, “And also she is the first woman of color that is running in this, I should note.”
According to one Twitter user, Seller corrected himself later and called her a “governor of color.”
I give @Bakari_Sellers a lot of credit tonight, he called Nikki Haley white on CNN tonight which I thought was him purposefully lying to more effectively play the race card. He corrected himself later & called her a Governor of color, I appreciate the correction.
— The Right Future 🇺🇸 (@fakastler) June 5, 2023
It is not clear why Sellers called her “white” in the first place.
Sellers, according to his own commentary, is familiar with her background and is from the same South Carolina county she is from.
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