Historian blows up on MSNBC's Velshi for bringing up British colonialism
MNSNBC's coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II took a turn on Saturday morning when a British historian took exception with host Ali Velshi after he mentioned the brutal colonialism conducted under the crown -- and the two ended up in a shouting match.
In his intro, the MSNBC host explained the late queen, "Represented an institution that had a long, ugly history of brutal colonialism, violence, theft, and slavery. For many centuries the British robbed other nations of their wealth and power and exploited their people. Even as Queen Elizabeth's reign largely marks the beginning of the post-colonial era, the horrors that her long line of ancestors inflicted upon many generations of people across the globe continues to be the source of pain. That is now a legacy that her eldest son, King Charles III inherits."
That immediately set off his guest, historian Andrew Roberts, and the interview went off the rails with Roberts asking the MSNBC host where he was born and Velshi sarcastically closing by thanking Roberts for coming on the show to "whitewash" British history.
Roberts came right out of the gates chastizing Velshi.
Asked by the host if the royal institution needs to change, Roberts shot back, "I think that is wildly overstated frankly. When you look at all the opinion polls we are about 80 to 85% in favor of having a constitutional monarchy. Whoever is saying that on the throne, so I think this is extremely overdone."
"Frankly, I am afraid to say, as your introduction was -- it pains people throughout history -- why was she chosen by every single commonwealth country, many of which are former countries, as the head of the commonwealth?" he asked.
"Andrew, hold on a second. Are you really denying what I just said about racial colonialism? Are you really doing that, Andrew?" Velshi replied as Roberts continued to protest. "Andrew, Andrew, this is not a propaganda show. Andrew, I need you to stop. I need you to stop for a second. Are you really taking issue with the horrors of colonialism, Andrew?"
"I am certainly taking issue with your remarks about slavery," Roberts parried. "We abolished it 32 years before you did. We did not kill 600,000 people in a Civil War over it."
"So, you think that is fine," the MSNBC host challenged. "There are people all over the world were born in colonial countries, because, when I was born the British Empire still existed and, that is okay for everybody?"
After the host pointed out he was born in Kenya, Roberts raised his voice and claimed, "Why on earth do you want to concentrate on the only -- the negative things of an institution from 100 years ago now?" as the interview descended into the two talking over each other.
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