Florida Democrat deletes post after being ‘called out’ over stereotype

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) on Monday took down a social media post regarding South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s (R) meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after being accused of reinforcing the stereotype that Asians eat dogs.

The remarks were made in Moskowitz’s repost of a clip from CBS Mornings’ interview with Noem — a potential vice presidential pick for former President Trump — in which the governor discussed her request to remove an anecdote about her meeting with Kim from her new book,  “No Going Back.” In the clip, Noem explained she “should not have” put the anecdote in the book and dodged questions about whether the anecdote was accurate after doubts were raised last week.

Moskowitz on Monday reposted the clip on the social media platform X, making a reference to Noem’s separate revelation in her soon-to-be-released book that she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog about 20 years ago. “Why am I getting the feeling that she wanted to eat dog with Kim Jong Un,” Moskowitz wrote.

The post immediately drew accusations of spreading the racist and false stereotype that Asians eat dogs. It was deleted hours later.

In a statement shared with The Hill, Moskowitz said he removed the post as he did not “want it to be misconstrued and offend the broader community.”

“I condemn those stereotypes and would never want to feed into them,” he added.

The House’s only two Korean American Democrats weighed in on the issue, Politico reported.

“While we appreciate our colleague standing up to GOP extremism, we cannot perpetuate harmful stereotypes in the process,” Reps. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) said in a statement. “We thank Rep. Moskowitz for apologizing and taking down his tweet.”

The Florida Democrat later replied to a screenshot of his since-deleted post by Politico reporter Nicholas Wu, who wrote, “Rep. Moskowitz using a stereotype here about Asians and dogs.”

“I have a tremendous respect for Nick as a fantastic journalist. I made a joke about 2 specific people. No one else. However, I would never want to be insensitive and feed into a stereotype. He called me out, deserved,” Moskowitz wrote in response.

Moskowitz’s post comes after Noem came under fire over her revelation about shooting the dog. Noem defended the move, saying she shot the “dangerous” dog to protest her children. She said it was “not a pleasant job” but “had to be done.”

Moskowitz drew criticism in March for a separate social media post, in which he published side-by-side pictures of actor Sydney Sweeney wearing a revealing outfit on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and President Biden as he arrived at his latest State of the Union address.

The latter photo captured the moment Biden looked shocked to see Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). The photos were arranged to make it look like Biden was reacting to Sweeney. Moskowitz captioned the post with an emoji that depicts a pair of eyes looking to the left.

He later took down the post, calling it “inappropriate.”