Daily Show Creator Sorry for Saying OK Tornado Targeted Conservatives
Comedian and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead faced sharp criticism from both sides of the aisle after she joked on Twitter that yesterday's devastating tornado was in Oklahoma, "so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives."
As her followers started to complain that Winstead's quip — ostensibly poking fun at the recent IRS scandal — was insensitive, Winstead initially stood by it.
"If Its not OK to YOU for me to combine news stories to point out hypocrisy AND Im not making fun of victims u shld Unfollow," she told one self-identified Oklahoman.
Winstead continued making Tornado jokes for several minutes, asking her readers "how long has Obama known about this Tornado," and lamenting that Tornado coverage "just bumped me from MSNBC."
Two hours later, when the extent of the damage made it impossible for Winstead to continue her line of defense, she finally decided to pull the tweet and issue an apology.
"Made a political joke, Twas before devastation revealed. In hindsight, had I understood, I would have refrained. Beyond sorry," she told her diminished follower count, adding the hashtag "#LetMeHaveIt."
Since then Winstead has flooded her feed with tweets encouraging people to help out the tornado victims by donating money and clothes.
Meanwhile, conservative pundit Erick Erickson, who was serious when he tweeted his followers to ask "when President Obama will find out about Oklahoma," remains unapologetic.
