It’s Cinco de Mayo, and you know what that means: epic blowups about cultural appropriation. With the certitude of the winter solstice, white people in sombreros and fake mustaches will inflame outrage on social media and the liberal press.
Brown University students have issued a fun-sponge edict that sombreros are racist, and that only ‘authentic Mexican’ cuisine is allowed. Students should relax by ‘reading a Mexican novel’. Our Editor Louise Mensch had a little something to say about that on Trish Regan on Fox Business:
Heat Street’s suggestion of “Tequila Mockingbird” was, sadly, ignored.
In honor of this great day celebrating Mexico’s victory over the French, here are five other Cinco de Mayo blowups.
1. When MSNBC’s Way Too Early celebrated with sombreros and tequila.
Yeesh, and this is supposed to be the liberal cable news station. In 2015 the host of Way to Early, Thomas Roberts, and reporter Louis Burgdorf donned the trifecta of offensive tropes—sombrero, maracas and half-assed Spanglish. After facing the wrath of social media and the press, Roberts and Burgdorf apologized.
Lol, Roberts actually used the classic ‘my friends don’t think I’m racist’ line.
2. And a similar snafu on Good Morning America
The same year, Laura Spencer, had a similar Cinco de Screwup. She may have even one upped the Way Too Early guys by adding the high-pitched tongue roll yell.
Apparently 2014 was the year of Cinco de Mayo outrage. After holding similar parties previous years featuring free sombreros, the university received flack for that year’s event. Their addition of chocolate mustaches seemed to tip the outrage scales, angering campus activists and social media users, and prompting the university to apologize.
4. The Cinco de Drinko Sloshball at UC Davis
Not only did the event posting include one of the most ridiculous college party names, it featured a picture of a bunch of white people in sombreros and sarapes jumping over a fence getting caught by the border patrol. At an ultra-PC school like UC Davis this was inevitably going to blow up into a shitstorm.
The next day 100 protesters showed up to block the party, including the school’s now suspended and disgraced chancellor, Linda Katehi.
5. Someone’s already in trouble this year. Oakland Police put out a Cinco de Mayo drunk driving warning—and then had to apologize.
Oakland Police had the gall to warn people about drunk driving on Cinco de Mayo, but later apologized after receiving several complaints. People accused the department of using offensive language equating the holiday and drinking in their “Fiesta Time or Jail Time” announcement. Oakland Police even went as far as to cancel their plan to increase DUI enforcement during the holiday.