South Africans Aren't Happy With a Journalist Who Referred to President Cyril Ramaphosa as an 'Unidentified Leader'
"Journalists are human beings who can make mistakes, but this seems to stem from a point of ignorance," wrote one Twitter user.
South Africans are in a row on Twitter, after a White House reporter for the Associated Press failed to recognize the country's president in a caption of a photo shared showing world leaders at the G7 Summit in France.
The image shows Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's Emmanuel Macron, India's Narendra Modi and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa huddled together as they have a conversation—each leader is named in the tweet, except Ramaphosa who is referred to as an 'unidentified leader."
The blunder did not exactly sit well with South Africans, who were quick to call out what could be interpreted as a Western bias, considering the fact that the journalist was able to recognize every other leader.
"This is very embarrassing," wrote one Twitter user. "A 30 second Google search would have revealed that he is Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa."
"She can identify all the white men but she is unaware of the only African and black president in the picture. Shame shame," wrote another.
World leader bear hug before the group photo @ #G7Summit in Biarritz, France. @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi … https://t.co/m3ZKs9ceXy— darlene superville (@darlene superville)1566762778.0
While the journalist has not deleted the original post nor addressed it directly, she tweeted the picture once again on Monday morning, this time correctly identifying and tagging Ramaphosa.
This hasn't stopped social media users from responding to the tweet. While some are finding humor in the blunder, others are calling it "ignorant," and are demanding that the tweet be deleted. Here's more of what folks are saying:
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau That person does not even know that Africa is not a country 🤷🏿♂️— Olwethu Sipuka (@Olwethu Sipuka)1566793847.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 He's a sell out and fo… https://t.co/uvTkVkMHu5— Mkhwebane ❤😭❤ (@Mkhwebane ❤😭❤)1566794921.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau It’s really consoling to know that it’s not only SA Jou… https://t.co/JurnavHIUQ— 👑Undlunkulu Xoli👑 (@👑Undlunkulu Xoli👑)1566798475.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau @AP seriously!!! Journalists are human beings who can… https://t.co/E1kNP3XnQT— Waihiga Mwaura 🇰🇪 (@Waihiga Mwaura 🇰🇪)1566808957.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau Google could have prevented this msunery.— Ms_Gupta🇿🇦 ❤️ (@Ms_Gupta🇿🇦 ❤️)1566798239.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau What kind of journalism is this that lacks the professi… https://t.co/YDg4PfAj09— Hopewell Chin'ono (@Hopewell Chin'ono)1566807843.0
@PearlPillay @dsupervilleap @AP https://t.co/3oaSwxyLQO— Hamish Hoosen of the Pillays (@Hamish Hoosen of the Pillays)1566798078.0
@dsupervilleap @EmmanuelMacron @narendramodi @JustinTrudeau Poor Cyril😭😭😭— Nathi Sithole (@Nathi Sithole)1566794982.0