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By Jordan King
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A Fox News host's suggestion that Kamala Harris changes her accent depending on the audience she's addressing has sparked uproar online.
The vice president spoke in Detroit and Pittsburgh during campaign events on Labor Day. Snippets from the two speeches have been circulating on social media, with several MAGA supporters accusing Harris of changing her accent.
Fox News' Jesse Watters said: "Kamala was raised by an Indian mother in Canada, but now she sounds like Fani Willis." He was referring to the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, who has a traditional Southern accent.
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Matt Gertz, a researcher who focuses "on the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration," said the coverage was "racist." He wrote on X: "As Trump's supporters have struggled to figure out how to effectively respond to Harris replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket, Watters has repeatedly tried to fill that void with what he knows best: racist and misogynistic commentary."
Author Keith Boykin, who has written a book about race in the U.S., said comments like that of Fox News were indicative of white folks not understanding the "bifurcated" way many Black people in America live.
"I grew up next to a cornfield in a mostly white community in Missouri but spent weekends and summers with my Black cousins in the city of St. Louis," he said. "Fox News continues to display its ignorance about the bifurcated reality of life for many Black people in America."
Substack writer Wajahat Ali made a reference to Donald Trump's previous comments, accusing Harris of faking her race, saying she "happened to turn Black" for political gain during an appearance with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in July.
Ali said: "GOP is so divorced from the majority and reality that they think this will help them. It won't. Just like "turning Black" this is going to backfire. This is what happens when your party caters almost exclusively to white supremacy."
During a press conference, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the supposed accent change.
She answered: "Do you think Americans seriously think this is an important question? You know what they care about? They care about the economy, they care about lowering costs, they care about health care, that's what Americans care about.
"I'm not even going to entertain some question about—hearing it sounds so ridiculous. It's insane."
Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign and Fox News for comment via email outside of normal working hours.
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