CNN.com Called Nelson Mandela “Mandingo”?

Published June 26, 2008 in Media.

What the hell is going on there?

14 Responses to “CNN.com Called Nelson Mandela “Mandingo”?”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 Parthenon
Jun 26th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

I’m confused. Is that a slur? I thought it was just a name for an ethnic group. Then again I thought ‘Macaca’ was just a name for a species of monkey before George Allen introduced it to the world…
2 Repack Rider
Jun 26th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

It’s the name of a fictional Black character in a series of sixties bodice rippers. He’s the slave who gets it on with the slave owner’s daughter and/or wife, and he is regarded as the stereotypical sexually aggressive Black man with a formidable schwantzstuker.

Unless there is another reference that I am not aware of.
3 Parthenon
Jun 26th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

Oh. Yikes. Even if it is also an ethnic group… yikes.
4 Quaker in a Basement
Jun 26th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Golly. Do they test applicants for teh stoopid at CNN?
5 Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
Jun 26th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Golly. Do they test applicants for teh stoopid at CNN?

You need to ask that for a place that employs Kyra Phillips, Campbell Brown, Wolf Blitzer and Bill Bennett(even if it is just at election time)?
6 Duros62
Jun 26th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

And Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace?
7 Schuyler Hauser
Jun 26th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

I Googled “Nelson Mandingo” and aside from reactions to this story, the cites include this charmer mocking Charlize Theron for her praise of Mandela when meeting him back in 2004 (Post subtitle: “Hey, where de white women at?”) and the Stormfront.org site.

Nice company you keep, CNN.
8 Bruce
Jun 27th, 2008 at 12:01 am

Had they referred to him as an ethnic Mandingo, rather than per his ethnicity of Xhosa, it would have been a different type of blunder than butchering his very well known name.
9 DavidinMD
Jun 27th, 2008 at 4:19 am

This is yet another step in a disturbing pattern of racially unacceptable “gaffes” on the part of major news networks’ various guests and anchors. It has gone on for years - we all remember Niger Enis being “mistakenly” labeled as “N—-r” Enis on either Fox or CNN. Haha, sorry about the mixup, right boys? The rise of Obama has, coincidentally or otherwise, seen a spike in these types of incidents, and I don’t just mean referring to his name incorrectly, although that certainly deserves mention, too - perhaps a column in and of itself.

When you look at these occurrences as a whole, and you look at the source - typically educated, upper-class types who don’t make these same kind of racially offensive errors about other ethnicities, you have to wonder what’s going on. Call me paranoid, but you can only make the excuse that “It was an accident” or “We didn’t know the word (insert slur here) was offensive” so many times. After a while it seems to represent something a bit more sinister and calculated on someone’s part. One might say they represent a shout-out of sorts to a segment of society we don’t care to admit still exists. The ones who, say, can’t publicly face their own bigotry in the mirror, but enjoy a hearty laugh over these kinds of things, knowing that “those people” don’t really deserve the proper respect anyway, and they tend to get all uppity about nothing, don’t they? Yeah, those people…
10 Quaker in a Basement
Jun 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am

You need to ask that for a place that employs Kyra Phillips, Campbell Brown, Wolf Blitzer and Bill Bennett(even if it is just at election time)?

Yeah, I’m wondering if they test for stupidity and hire only those who test positive.
11 Duros62
Jun 27th, 2008 at 10:53 am

Would it be Pollyanna-ish of me if I suggested a failure of our education system on display?

Yeah, probably. Stupid is as stupid does.
12 david d
Jun 27th, 2008 at 11:55 am

It’s called the Cupertino Effect…
13 Duros62
Jun 27th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

“Hey, what’s the name of that guy from South Africa?”

“Dude, I dunno. Nelson something or other. Montana, Mankini, Mansuela, Mandingo..”

“Yeah, that’s it. Nelson Mandingo. Thanks”
14 Anomanom
Jul 31st, 2008 at 4:33 pm

It seems less racist and more freudian. Perhaps a case of thinking below the belt.