Reince Priebus of the Republican National Committee told a Fox News on Thursday that members of the republican party would not be featured on MSNBC until the company apologized for a tweet which portrayed Republicans as hating bi-racial families, according to Politico.
Priebus, who is chairman of the RNC, announced Republicans would boycott MSNBC and put them on a "probation" until an apology was released by the company, Politico reported.
"In their professed world of tolerance, they're sure hitting on all eight cylinders of intolerance," Priebus said on Fox, according to Politico.
The chairman of the RNC also wrote a letter to MSNBC President Phil Griffin on Thursday to express how serious the group was about boycotting.
"Until you personally and publicly apologize, I have banned all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC," Priebus wrote in the letter, adding that he asked Republican surrogates and officials" to do the same, Politico reported.
Shortly after, Griffin and other high-ranking officials released an official apology calling the Cheerios ad tweet "outrageous and unacceptable," according to Politico.
"The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable. We immediately acknowledged that it was offensive and wrong, apologized, and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet," Griffin wrote in a statement.
Many Republicans saw the boycott which only lasted a couple of hours as pointless and critics called it a stunt, but with what purpose?
Noah Rothman from Mediaite.com said the boycott seemed to be an effort for MSNBC to begin bringing left-wing extremist instead of right wing Republican extremist.
"Priebus and the Republican National Committee are playing hardball, they are doing so against a soft target, but they have to start somewhere," Rothman said of the RNC's outrage, according to Politico.
"The party has been unfairly branded as radical and intemperate, and waiting for this unjust characterization to self-correct is a losing game. The GOP will be well-served, for the time being, by showing just who the extremists really are," he added.
