TWiT guest says “colored people” and white panelists say nothing

Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts apparently thinks that saying “colored people” is acceptable.

In a stunning break from political correctness and the much-vaunted “family-friendly” nature of the TWiT network, a white man was allowed to spew racist language on the flagship “This Week in Tech” program hosted by Mike Elgan on Sunday. Elgan and his three other white male co-hosts said nothing as “Fortune” tech writer Jeff John Roberts said “colored people” in response to a question about trolls on Reddit.

Is Jeff John Roberts a backwards racist? Who uses language like this in 2015? Do the white men who appeared at TWiT not think this is unacceptable? The editorial board at TotalDrama eagerly awaits the answers to these questions.

Will Al Sharpton be marching on Petaluma? This is an outrage!
Will Al Sharpton be marching on Petaluma? This is an outrage!

For starters, an apology from Jeff John Roberts for his racist language would be appropriate. And secondly, it would be nice to have an African-American woman on the panel next week as a show of good faith that TWiT does not harbor racists.

79 thoughts on “TWiT guest says “colored people” and white panelists say nothing”

        1. Exactly, I had a little old lady today trying to describe a friend of hers and she used dark and colored. She apologized because she said she didn’t know what was acceptable anymore. I told her it didn’t matter what she said, it would offend somebody.

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    1. We’re not hateful. TotalDrama is providing a public service by pointing out the racism in our society. Now please show yourself out and don’t forget to eat a dick.

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  1. Why is this racist? I’ve heard African Americans call themselves people of color and black many times. If anything it’s an implied racism against white people insinuating that we lack color. If that were true we would be translucent.

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          1. Actually, NAACP was organized in 1909…106 years ago. Times change, acceptable language is redefined, and “colored people” as used by a white person is now questionable.

            One of the major Presidential candidates is presently leading the polls by smearing all Mexicans as criminals. People who think America is a post-racial Nirvana are very wrong.

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      1. The late great Richard Pryor had his first song on his debut comedic album back in 1968 entitled “Super Nigger”. Now how is this offensive! Burr is up everyone’s ass nowadays!

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    1. Who cares? WHO CARES? You go ask a black woman if she cares and your lip, face and back of your head will find out if she cares or not. Pull your head out of your ass and wake the fuck up.

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  2. HW has gone off the rails yet again. Maybe you should tell the NAACP, because it has the term colored people in the title.
    Some here needs to ban, HW, because he’s ruining this group. This is coming from someone who isn’t a fan of the group, but most of the other posters here aren’t as hateful as HW.
    Oh and btw, eat a dick, HW.

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    1. You have got to be kidding me with that “high moral bar” bullshit, right? Have you seen Leo sexually harassing the women on his staff? Have you seen him flashing his dick pic all over his livestream? Are you aware that Leo cheated on his wife and then married the bookkeeper at TWiT?

      Please tell me you’re joking.

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  3. I’ll bet that Nazi TWIT moderator Beatmaster uses the same racist, anachronistic term. After all, I’m sure Nazi’s don’t like black people and use that term liberally!

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  4. I like to think of African Americans as a people with a rich history and culture not as “colored” or “Negro.”

    The NAACP was formed in a time when the word was proper. Good morning: go back 20 more years and you will see disgraceful words that were acceptable.

    “Black tells you how you look without telling you who you are. A more proper word for our people, African, relates us to land, history and culture,” John Henrik Clarke

    “Since the success of the African-American Civil rights movement, the term “colored,” along with “negro” and others, has been largely replaced by “black.”

    “Historically, the word is associated with segregation, especially in the US, where black people where kept separate from white people – on public transport, or at drinking fountains which were described as “coloured-only” for example.”

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        1. He has Bert Monroy do that kind of work for him!

          BTW, anyone with that damn taking down of the confederate flag should stuff it, or as Helloworld puts it “eat a dick”! Removing Dukes of Hazzard is insane!

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  5. So the NAACP just keeps the C in their name as a way to connect with their history? (much like a confederate flag?)

    I understand that, as a “person of pallor”, my experience may differ from yours. I don’t like the term African-American, because it really doesn’t describe the difference(s) that really seem to matter. Do racists hear Chiwetel Ejiofor and decide not to say or do something terrible to him because of his pleasant voice or British citizenship? Do they hear someone with a deep southern accent and treat them like an “N-Word” without checking their skin color? Do they use the “N-Word” when protesting Richard Dawkins, because he actually is African? Or is the “N-Word” reserved for Americans only, like the great African-American actor Cliff Simon? Do they only want to live around nice (aka Canadian) white people, like Justin Bieber?

    Or is it just possible that the problem is that racists are assholes who treat people differently, based mostly on the color of the other person’s skin? (That’s why I like the oversimplification “Black”.)

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  6. Context and vocal intonation are everything, and you either left those out on purpose, or they flew over your head.

    He was putting both “fat people” and “colored people” in AIR QUOTES. He was using the terminology of the haters he was criticizing. He was making a point about racists and trolls whom he was extremely critical of.

    He made it clear he had no respect for the Reddit trolls who dump on “fat people” or “colored people” in Reddit sub-forums which he called “dark places” on the ‘net.

    That’s why the other participants didn’t call him on his using the term. There was no need to.

    In other words, there is no there there to your story.

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    1. Thank You Dave – I didn’t remember hearing anything inappropriate in the show and was going to have to go back and try to find out what the hell HW was referring to.
      It’s a funny thing about words – they’re all okay in the correct context.
      Even so, when one expresses dislike for certain groups of people, even when that dislike is based on rational reasons, quite often those people have a way of wanting to start a fight. It sounds like JJR was saying that he didn’t like racist / sizeist trolls and at least one troll was offended by that comment.

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      1. Did you see where I wrote, “Context and vocal intonation are everything”

        You can’t SEE context. You can’t SEE the sound of someone’s voice.

        Roberts said, “If you really want a forum to make fun of “fat people” or “colored people,” there’s always going to be these dark corners of the internet.

        TotalDrama is one of those dark corners in which constant and merciless fun is made of, for two examples, “Two-Ton-Tonya’s” weight or Megan’s too big nose or eyebrows.

        The problem is that denizens of the “Dark Corners” don’t think of themselves as denizens of the dark corner, can’t distinguish hate speech from a discussion ABOUT hate speech and miss the laughable hypocrisy of their specious allegations.

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          1. It comes as no surprise that a wealthy white man from Yale is completely tone-deaf. Lots of “nigras” in Connecticut, Leo? How does a gaffe like that come from a lifelong broadcaster? Perhaps Leo just isn’t able to think on his feet any longer.

            I think my politics are pretty close to Leo’s, but why introduce political discussions such as states’ rights? Is he just trying to piss off conservative members of his audience? It’s supposed to be a tech show…

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    2. At this point, I’ve concluded helloworld is simply too stupid to understand this. I used to think it was about hate alone, but that’s not enough to explain this level of blind batshit stupidity. It’s just plain irrational beyond any sense.

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    3. OF COURSE this idiot left tha out on purpose, that’s his purpose, to lie, cheat, steal, fuck shit up, fuck with people’s lives, ya know, like apparently Leo does?

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  7. Racism at the TWIT house? What a surprise. This place is clearly a house of horrors. Good catch. Can hardly wait for Leo to come back with some more dick pics.

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  8. It’s not HW, Holden, Richard or any of the regulars that bring me here. It’s the visitors and the banter of their position. How after all the video evidence can you defend your position?

    I think stories here are written to spark debate and some are over the top.
    But you the visitors keep this site going.
    I thank you all for entertaining me.

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  9. Another non issue trying to be made into an issue. “colored people” themselves refer to themselves as “people of color”. Guess what, I am colored too. I am white.

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  10. There’s probably better words to use so HelloWorld has a legit point. I recoiled a bit when I heard him say it.

    But I’m not sure photo-shopping him over the top of a confederate flag helps illustrate your point, in fact it kind of takes away from it.

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  11. Well as an old Chippawa/Irish female I guess I’ll add my 2 cents.

    As far as what you call non white people, it has changed much in my time. I haven’t a clue but I do think it is more how you call them than what you call them. Inflection is important. I see no problem with black brown yellow white they are a descriptive after all. I’m guessing the way you call white people white can be as much of an insult as calling someone black. All comes down to how you say it

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