By P.C. Staff
The Wall Street Journal posted a highly controversial tweet that caught people’s attention on Aug. 30. On its official Twitter account, @WSJ, the newspaper posted a tweet about the political vulnerabilities of Chinese President Xi Jinping but had used a widely offensive Chinese slur: “A chink in its armor? Xi Jinping looks vulnerable for the first time.”
Many people criticized the tweet immediately, especially considering the usage of a highly offensive racial slur. “The Donald Trump Effect. Not just GOP but even conservative media like Wall Street Journal becoming xenophobic.”
The Donald Trump effect. Not just GOP but even conservative media like Wall Street Journal becoming xenophobic: https://t.co/cq9H2VM3Xz
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 31, 2015
Hours after its racial slur about President Jinping, the WSJ issued an apologetic statement. “We recently removed a tweet on our Xi Jinping article because a common idiom used might be seen as a slur,” the tweet said. “No offense was intended.” There has been no direct response from the Chinese government as of today. The tweet comes on the heels of last week’s “attacks” by presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump.
