Bernie Sanders is distancing himself from comments made by one of his surrogates at a rally at Washington Square Park on Wednesday night.
Dr. Paul Song is a physician and activist for universal healthcare, and before Sanders took the stage in New York City, Song told the crowd: "Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores, who are beholden to big pharma and the private-insurance industry instead of us," according to NPR [1].
After pressure to denounce Song's "whore" comment came from many Hillary Clinton supporters, including her communications director [2], Sanders tweeted that the comment was "inapporpriate and insensitive."
Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 14, 2016 [3]
Song issued his own apology on Twitter, implying he wasn't talking about Clinton, but members of Congress who don't support universal healthcare.
I am very sorry for using the term "whore" to refer to some in congress who are beholden to corporations and not us. It was insensitive.
— Paul Y. Song (@paulysong) April 14, 2016 [4]
Still, many people thought Song was speaking directly about Clinton and expressed outrage at the comment. On Thursday, the hashtag #DemocraticWhores began trending on Twitter.
Heard of Osama Bin Laden?The Leader of the #DemocraticWhores [5] party took him out! By the way #ReleaseTheReturns [6] @berniesanders [7]#ImWithHer
— cindyg (@clg714) April 14, 2016 [8]
We cannot tolerate this kind of language towards women, strong leaders fighting for our community. Do better! #ImWithHer [9] #DemocraticWhores [10]
— Latinos4Hillary (@Latina4Hillary) April 14, 2016 [11]
Pretending #DemocraticWhores [12] doesn't have gender implications is like pretending calling a woman candidate too ambitious doesn't either. Oh.
— EmergeAmerica (@EmergeAmerica) April 14, 2016 [13]
If you're still trying to make #DemocraticWhores [14] okay by telling women to stop taking things personally, you are the problem.
— Sarah Reese Jones (@srjones66) April 14, 2016 [15]
Sanders might have to address the comments when the two Democratic candidates debate tonight in Brooklyn, NY, on CNN.