A tweet appeared late last night on the Twitter page of Sinn Fein president (for the time being anyway) Gerry Adams in which he appeared to compare the plight of slaves in American to that of Irish Nationalists.
The tweet stated: “Watching Django Unchained – A Ballymurphy N*****!”
Ballymurphy in Belfast was the site of the so-called Ballymurphy massacre which resulted in the deaths of 11 people who were alledged to have been killed by the British Army in 1971.
The tweet was rapidly removed though it still managed to cause a wave of outrage.
Did Gerry Adams not attend this Twitter training like we all had to when we joined? pic.twitter.com/tDu7iQxuWs
— Phlegm Clandango (@Cain_Unable) May 2, 2016
Gerry Adams has never been a member of Twitter, and he doesn’t know anybody who uses Twitter. In fact, he doesn’t even know what Twitter is.
— Dave Jones (@WelshGasDoc) May 2, 2016
He later released a statement stating:
“I am opposed to racism and have been all my life.
“The fact is that nationalists in the north, including those from Ballymurphy, were treated in much the same way as African Americans until we stood up for ourselves.
“If anyone is genuinely offended by my use of the N-word they misunderstand or misrepresent the context in which it was used. For this reason I deleted the tweets.”
“My tweets about the film and the use of the N-word were ironic and not intended to cause any offence whatsoever.”Â
Any1 who saw Django would know my tweets&N-word were ironic.Nationalists in Nth were treated like African Americans.
— Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) May 2, 2016
International Media has taken note of the offensive tweet with the Washington Times reporting:
“The longtime leader of the Irish Republican Army’s political wing used the most toxic of all racial slurs Sunday night.”
Gerry Adams was recently forced to wait 90 minutes to attend a St. Patrick’s Day event in the White House while security scrutinised his documents causing him to depart without attending the event. Presumably they’ll remember him the next time.
“There is something wrong with him. I’ve said it before, and still he never fails to reinforce the point,” Former Labour Party Senator Mairia Cahill told the Irish Independent.
