Breitbart Defends Homophobic, Race Bait-y Virginia Shooting Coverage

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A number of journalists called out Breitbart for its homophobic, race-baiting coverage of Wednesday’s on-air massacre of a local TV news reporter and her cameraman. Breitbart is wearing those criticisms like a badge of honor.

“BREITBART NEWS POSTS FACTUAL HEADLINE ABOUT ‘RACE WAR’ DOUBLE MURDER, INTERNET MELTS DOWN,” a headline roared Thursday.

In the story, which bears “Breitbart News” as its byline, Breitbart mocked “the mainstream press, left-wing writers, and the usual suspects on the right who love being liked by the liberals went apoplectic.”

Most of the outrage was over a headline the conservative outlet published Wednesday regarding the shooting:

“RACE MURDER IN VIRGINIA: BLACK REPORTER SUSPECTED OF EXECUTING WHITE COLLEAGUES – ON LIVE TELEVISION!”

It was tweeted out by Breitbart editor John Nolte.

Breitbart noted Thursday it was not just liberals who said the headline went too far: “The usual suspects and perpetual backstabbers on the right who look for any excuse to go after Breitbart News joined left-wing writers and their allies in the mainstream press in attacking Breitbart News’s headline.”

Breitbart singled out a RedState editor who criticized the headline and said the editor “has looked for any excuse to attack Breitbart News after Nolte called him out for selling out conservatives in order to get patted on the head by left-wing Buzzfeed.”

As you might guess from Thursday’s story, the conservative outlet shows no signs of toning things down. Much of the outlet’s coverage has focused on the revived push for gun control, which is being led by the family of one of the victims, Alison Parker.

But as more details come to the surface about the shooter — a black, gay disgruntled coworker who on Twitter and in a 23-page page manifesto accused his coworkers of discrimination — Breitbart framed the story as a reverse equivalent to the racially-motivated Charleston shooting, with a gay twist.

Reports that a LGBT pride flag had been found in the shooter’s apartment prompted Nolte to suggest that the “LGBT rainbow hate flag “ should receive the same scrutiny as the Confederate flag did after June’s Charleston, South Carolina shooting.

The gay pride rainbow flag reportedly found in Flanagan’s apartment is seen by many as a symbol of anti-Christian hate.

After a white racist terrorist in South Carolina murdered nine innocent black churchgoers, photos of the racist with the Confederate Flag resulted in a media frenzy to ban the flag.
Like the Confederate flag, the provocative gay pride flag, a symbol of religious oppression, has flown on government property.

The Confederate Flag has since been taken down in South Carolina.

Thus far, other than a mention in the Telegraph, the media has not reported on the fact that Flanagan might have owned the LGBT rainbow hate-flag.

As for the push for gun control, Breitbart Senior-Editor-At-Large Ben Shapiro sees the fact that the shooter was African-American as proof that the media is hypocritical there as well:

We won’t have a conversation about whether pushing a perennial picture of victimhood for blacks and gays in the most black-friendly, gay-friendly country on the planet could drive supposed victims to violence. We won’t talk about whether the Democratic Party’s takeover by the Black Lives Matter crew has encouraged some people to believe that only black lives matter, since only black lives are in danger – and even then, only some black lives matter, namely those killed by white people.

Breitbart News came under fire recently for questioning the race of #BlackLivesMatter activist Shaun King. Breitbart’s allegations were undercut by reports by MSNBC as well as King himself, but the outlet has yet to back down.

After Wednesday’s shooting, Breitbart turned its attention to another prominent #BlackLivesMatter, DeRay McKesson, for retweeting a tweet suggesting — before the shooter’s racial identity was revealed — that he would be treated differently by the media because he was white. McKesson made a similar comment himself in a since-deleted tweet that Breitbart screen-grabbed for the story.

“The Black Lives Matter movement often complains about media coverage that it claims is anti-black and racist,” Breitbart concluded.

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