September 28, 2016 | No Comments
The image of a bowl of Skittles and controversial accompanying message about Syrian refugees that Donald Trump Jr. posted to Twitter earlier this month has been removed “in response to a report from the copyright holder.”
Trump Jr. posted the image early last week, showing a bowl of Skittles and the message, “If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem.” Along with the image, Trump Jr. wrote that “this image says it all. Let’s end the politically correct agenda that doesn’t put America first. #trump2016.”
On Wednesday, that image was no longer viewable on Trump Jr.’s Twitter profile, although the accompanying message written by the GOP candidate’s son was still online. According to the BBC, the British-based photographer who took the picture of the Skittles filed a complaint that his photo had been used without permission. He told the BBC that he was “very glad it’s down, and it shouldn’t have been up in the first place.”
When Trump Jr. posted the image, he almost immediately drew criticism for promoting a racist message on his Twitter account. Similar metaphors to the one Trump Jr. posted last week have been used in the past by white supremacist groups, but Donald Trump’s campaign was quick to deny any racist undertone to the post.
Trump Jr. said the post was simply a metaphor “for risk and probability” and added that “People will today make what they want of anything, and they see the worse in everything, and they look for a subtext that doesn’t exist.” Vice presidential candidate Mike Pence called the outrage surrounding the Skittles metaphor “remarkable” when compared to Hillary Clinton’s proposals on refugees and immigration.