Twitter was slamming Van Jones on Thursday after Jacob Kornbluh said Jones apologized to the Jewish community “for the silence of my community.” The self-appointed spokesperson for Black people thing? That didn’t go over well. Writer Michael Harriot wrote an opinion piece for The Grio calling him, “apologetically Black.”
Then, Kornbluh retracted his original tweet and apologized to Jones. A source close to the situation told The Shade Room “Van got completely misquoted at a fundraiser by one random live tweeter.” Jones accepted the apology and tweeted a response to the backlash.
“If I HAD said Black folks weren’t holding Kanye/Ye accountable, that would been a lie–coz zillions of us have condemed Ye. Let’s stick together and er louder vs. hate,” Van wrote on Twitter.
Thanks for the apology & correction, @JacobKornbluh.
If I HAD said Black folks weren’t holding Kanye/Ye accountable, that woulda been a lie—coz zillions of us HAVE condemned Ye. Let’s stick together and get louder vs hate. https://t.co/g6MUkIi1vM
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) December 7, 2022
Hours later, Harriot shared an audio clip and transcript of Van Jones’ speech.
This tweet was gonna be a thread about a boldfaced liar who called Black media outlets to get them to retract a story, including MY BOSS, but left the white media outlets alone. Then I thought about it and said:
“…Maybe it’s ‘bald-faced” liar?”
Anyway…
This: pic.twitter.com/FASAz9xK87
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) December 8, 2022
As we initially reported, Jones did start off with an apology. But the full quote was “I’m going to start off with an apology for the silence of my community and for the speech of my profession.”
He said the Black community “expected and insisted that everyone stand and roar back against hatred” after the “anti-Black bigotry and racism that the wolrd saw on video.”
Then, he said Black people have “rationalized” and responded “not with a roar but often with barely a squeak and sometimes a shrug” to the “wave of hatred” building against the Jewish community. Vans said the result of the silence has been an African-America icon paising Huilter. Though Vans didn’t name Ye in that specific instance, he later started a chant.
“And I want to say very clearly: When it was a drip, we did nto turn it off. And now it is a flood. And I want to say to you, I apologize for the silence of my community. The silence is over. And I want to say to Kanye, who I know: Ye, nay! Ye, nay! Ye, nay! Ye, nay! No more, no more, no more.”
The full transcript and audio is available on eJewishPhilanthrophy.
Van Jones has not responded to the full audio release. However, Harriot dropped off another lil’ message to Jones.
While I would never call myself the spokesperson for Black people, I like to think of myself as the spokesperson for Black people who do not consider Van Jones to be the spokesperson for Black people
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) December 8, 2022
