NYT panned for Mara Gay defense following her 'disturbing' American flags remark: 'Every word here is a lie'

close

Video

Media top headlines June 8

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refusing GoFundMe money for abuela, a judge ordering Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to clarify policy that only granted interviews to journalists of color, and MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace agreeing that not passing Democratic voting bill would be like the ‘fall of the Roman empire’ round out today’s top media headlines

The New York Times issued a statement defending its editorial board member Mara Gay after she went on television and expressed the "disturbing" sight of American flags she witnessed during a visit to Long Island in New York. 

On Tuesday morning, the MSNBC analyst appeared on "Morning Joe" and spoke about how "Americanness" and "Whiteness" need to be separated. 

NYT, MSNBC'S MARA GAY: ‘DISTURBING’ TO SEE ‘DOZENS OF AMERICAN FLAGS’ ON LONG ISLAND 

"I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend, and I was really disturbed," Gay said. "I saw, you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with explicatives [sic] against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing … Essentially the message was clear. ‘This is my country. This is not your country. I own this.’" 

Gay received swift backlash on social media for her condemnation of the all the American flags she saw, but according to a statement released by her employer, her critics are off-base. 

NEW YORK TIMES' MARA GAY ROASTED FOR CLAIMING DAVE RUBIN'S SHOW ‘REGULARLY HOSTS WHITE SUPREMACISTS’

"New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay's comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context," NYTimes Communications tweeted Tuesday evening. "Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag."

The statement added, "The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith."

The Times' tweet was also panned by critics. 

"Lmao they're just gonna pretend we didn't all see the video where she said the American flags she saw were ‘disturbing,’" The Daily Caller's Greg Price reacted. 

"I mean people just quoted her verbatim and also posted the entire video of her comments?" journalist Zaid Jilani similarly tweeted.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

"Interesting, considering that's not what she said," Washington Examiner commentator Becket Adams shot back.

"Every word here is a lie," The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis slammed the tweet.

"Dear God....the @nytimes justifies mocking the American flag because Donald Trump likes the American flag. It’s propaganda for the ruling party. We see it," former DNI Ric Grenell wrote. 

The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

This isn't the first time Gay went viral for unflattering reasons. In March 2020, she and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams botched the math of the money Mike Bloomberg spent on his failed presidential campaign, suggesting that the $500 million he put towards political ads could have been given every person in the U.S. population $1 million.

It was actually $1.53 per person.