Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) made a dig at a news outlet in the middle of a press conference following the deadly terror attack in New Orleans on New Years’ Day. Several journalists, pundits and elected officials are now condemning his remarks.
The Daily Beast reported that while taking questions from assembled reporters on Wednesday, Kennedy was told that an NBC News reporter was “on the right” and wanted to ask a question. Kennedy said that “was an unusual position” for the outlet, which prompted the reporter to say: “I don’t get it.”
“You wouldn’t,” Kennedy responded.
“Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana is a useless piece of s— saying all the wrong things at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons,” tweeted former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. “What a tone deaf, selfish, senile motherf—er.”
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis also chimed in, calling out Kennedy’s “unacceptable and deplorable behavior” and telling the Bayou State’s junior U.S. senator that the press conference “wasn’t the time or place for you[r] jackass jokes.”
“For once can you put the people of Louisiana over your media obsession,” Lewis tweeted.
The terror attack, which was carried out by a 42 year-old American-born U.S. military veteran, left 14 dead and dozens injured on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The attacker was eventually killed in a shootout with police.
“If my constituents had just been slaughtered in a terrorist attack I wouldn’t be cracking jokes for the cameras but that’s just me,” former Obama administration official Eric Columbus posted to X.
“This man is a thorough disgrace to the office he holds,” tweeted scientist and author Michael E. Mann. “He should resign immediately.”
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